Purple Tuesday

Rain drops sputter against the window sill of the empty room              and I don't know how we got here when all we really wanted was to eat Costco cake on the rooftop               of your apartment building and buy bottles

 of Blackburn wine from the Trader Joes on 14th street      [those nights we would stand in front of the cashier and flash our fake IDs] stand tall, shoulders back, you know you want to be someone you are not.                         Perhaps the night we fled from the

disasters freed us from the things we refused to know; those things you think at night when the high-stitch count sheets can protect you,           when your mother and father can't see you, 

cry for me, I'm begging you 

And now we are here: empty room. [your cold breath] the stench of mold in the deserted bathroom shower and I have nothing to say                     so I listen to the pitter 

                           patter of the rain, purple sky, I think about how we could have been at

Costco, the chocolate cake too dark, and that horrible wine,

six dollars           and the New York City stars polluted by the lights,

[62 Avenue A]         our faces shining.