Ben Nardolilli: Two Poems

Coney Island Avenue

Dogs are quoting broken Shakespeare at me,

children claim I’m their friend 

while fleeing because I’m still a stranger to them,

in the bodega the coffee pots stare

and the cats turn to heavy bears,

each one stalking me from the cereal to the beer

I tell them I’ll miss them, 

in order to make them go away, the lights

overhead are a big white cloud,

and the streetlights are worthy of remembrance,

I use them to navigate this original work 

that put these streets down as straight lines on paper

Anarcho-Dandyism

I want you to read my proposal,

the name derives from the state of mind

where the sleeper drifts 

to the edge of awakening

But the overall aim is to act as a small 

beacon and a big wind,

setting up a literary pecking order 

in place of bureaucracy

Please, read on, use us to go through us,

trending together in the anomalous 

so long, and so hard,

we all eventually reach the orthodox