4.

Tough to do
the working class
in wide screen:
the interiors
don't quite add up,
tables bump lumpy chairs bump
bumpy walls & let's face it
this potato-textured
distressed distress
is something you
don't want to see
in letterbox HD--
not meth-breather tubing
with a regional twang,
expository dentistry
soaked in tang--
all except maybe
the pearl of the litter
the squirrel-skinner
with secret pluck
& historical luck.

Tough to look though Joni
from both sides now
the imprinting's all frayed
the head's dragged up & round about
like busted bell bottoms in
a cube of splayed &
pawsmeared plastic
heavy on the shoulders
a cellular habit
lens chipped & bouldered
fingers still working
qwerty under the awning
speech replacing gum
chewing television for the eyes
metamorphic sum
to watch paint dry
or foggy molecules bead
& dance in the light
from my hat as she
shakes her head
on the tracks.