her hair is long now

the black & white flickers
throwing silence from a shelf
on her bedroom wall to her body
where she lies on pillows and pillows
as humming cars spin about
carving into a crisp january air

she is tired of newspapers
and orange juice and dishes and
telephones and coffee and
back rubbing and changing channels
and repeats and repeats
and perhaps of me
in this two room 2nd story apartment
sandwiched between
a loud-mouthed immigrant landlord
who just upped the rent
and his tight-lipped cousin
who is only heard
marching the steps at 4 a.m.

he’s the one who caused the landlord to
paste a notice on the door
“no slam door pleeze”

he’s the one i used to make pizzas for
back in high school
when he opened giovanni’s place
before the big fire
took not only giovanni’s place but
near half a block
during the blizzard of ’77

now he cuts men’s hair
and
serves spirits at night

when i quit him i left on poor terms
we still don’t speak
we are hard-headed
hold grudges
our lives
“no so perfect anymore”
our skin like sandpaper
roughing instead of smoothing
the edges

she turns off the television

     Dan Sicoli hasn’t played guitar in years, hasn’t cleaned the car in months, hasn’t cut his hair since last fall, but he has managed to take out the garbage and wash the dishes. He is co-founder and co-editor of Slipstream Magazine and Press in Niagara Falls-Apart, NY.
     Other recent work has appeared in print with Serving_Suggestion, Heeltap, Bathtub Gin, Chiron Review, and Bender; and, electronically, with Disquieting Muses, Naked Poetry, Interweave, Thunder Sandwich, Bulk Head, Ragged Edge, Stirring, and Erosha. In 1999, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

other online publications:

Disquieting Muses:
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli1.html
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli2.html
Thunder Sandwich:
• http://www.thundersandwich.com/ts12/sicoli.html
Stirring
Bulkhead
Naked Poetry
Erosha