3 Poems by B.Z. Niditcch

ON THE METRO

With dark
detectable sounds
puffing on the red line
on West Street
with snow falling
in a leaky roof
on the subway
losing the map
and address
for my gig,
I take out
my pawned sax
from an old
motel suitcase
from another country
and play slowly
in perpetual motion
on the metro
to earn
a few dollars
before midnight
between train doors
as a would be
Anna Kerenina
steps up to take
her life
after hearing
my cadenza
and moves away.


SURVIVAL BOXES

The threshold
of the homeless
in survival boxes
chattering faces
outside the windows
on frozen fields
at the edge of town
dawn chills
sleepers on flagstone
by a row
of the overpowered.


IN THE BREAKDOWN LANE

Traffic in a row
of road rage
in the darkness
of a moldy mirror
at midnight
near a strip club
the star performer
remakes
her lips redder
as a heart beat
stops dead
by a hunky hitchhiker
on the train tracks
with his valuables
on one long leg
and arm
with a record
of forced entry
desperation
as she lets
him in the front
and he drives
her crazy
for food
as he opens
his basket
and devours.

Bionote

B.Z. Niditch is a poet, playwright, fiction writer and teacher. His work is widely published in journals and magazines throughout the world, including:  Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry and Art; The Literary Review; Denver Quarterly; Hawaii Review; Le Guepard (France); Kadmos (France); Prism International; Jejune (Czech Republic); Leopold Bloom (Budapest);  Antioch Review; and Prairie Schooner, among others.  He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.