"A Hair Raising Scheme" by Joe Sonnenblick

Crossing that same river as Washington, I don’t feel as accomplished,

I’m in a car with a woman who just spent forty-five minutes calling me reckless.

Hallucinating,

Philip Glass on a tricycle riding around the summer concrete,

He’s stuck in the street.

Old covered wagons and I want in, guns drawn, I want in.

Anywhere but here

I sat on the hood of the car with a pistolero pointed up,

Couldv’e been the sky or a fever dream in Sam Shepard’s mind.

Theo Van Gogh couldn’t save his brother and I don’t think he regretted it,

Some folks are lucky that way

To not have empathy,

Some folks.

Joe Sonnenblick is a Native New Yorker who was a regular contributor to the now defunct Citizen Brooklyn magazine. Joe has been featured in publications such as In Parentheses for their 6th volume of poetry and The Academy Of The Heart And Mind, Impspire Literary Review, and The Bond Street Review. Upcoming publications include: Aji for the Spring 2021 issue, and Ethel for the June/July 2021 issue. Joe has also been a featured reader up and down the east coast including The Poets House in Tribeca.