i. Song

Saturday with sunny urgency in the print shop
then I’m on my way to the union hall
who knows if it’s sunny in Paris
Paris who? I’m in the print shop
love clusters outside the union hall
love and store windows and tipped dumpsters in Paris
all love seems automatic in the print shop
the dumpster is not on fire at the union hall
the dumpster is howling in Paris


ii. Romance

I talk about the temperature so I don’t have to talk about my pay
love pours out of me as I walk
as I walk love walks with me
I talk about love so I don’t have to talk about my pay
to myself in classical Latin
I walk concealing my past by the burning car
at the dinner dance of the century love picks my pocket
it’s Sunday everywhere I go and
everywhere I go love pours out of me


iii. Philosophy

The true function of the car alarm is to inform you
the world has not changed
you are still alive it’s 5:32 p.m.
work in the morning and a hole in your sleep
the air outside is tense with commerce
honk honk the world has not changed

Zachary LaMalfa is a poet and teacher from New Jersey. His poems and other writing have appeared in Prolit, The File, and Tinge, among a few others, and he has been a featured poet on The Brooklyn Rail's New Social Environment. He currently adjunct-instructs courses in English and literature at CUNY.