West End

COHORT 4

After the Pet Shop Boys

Look into what is leftover of the rain

on the corner of some iconic street–

see reflections see skyscrapers

taking the shape of God & spines see 

the stone angel rising 

above a graffitied message where the pink &

red speak louder than the words see

impatient cabs & buses stumbling

into the staccato of some trendy 80’s tune– 

Here, no pockets are safe &

hands learn to never let go of anything &

this is the nature of cities:

raw & underground.

Men step over Men step over

Men who are weeds in concrete

step over gasoline leaked from cars

step into glass doors until they too are 

(in)visible.

Ladies step out of paintings with 

the movement of dramatic light only to find 

that a muse never leaves the frame–

& out of the theater, a riot of neon

reaches for legs & it is in this moment

that we all believe in something

that will never happen.

Leftover scents of cigars

that should taste like money 

make homes in mouths & there are 

some things that never become memories.

We always find ourselves 

at the hands of a phantom 

or is it just the faces on posters 

or is it the frostbitten lips of people 

who speak so many words 

but never the ones that matter most 

or is it just the wind nonlinearly shifting 

in the rips of jeans. At four, smoke arises

from the city drain & the streets smell like madness this time

& the taste is more haunting this time &

time moves slower in this scene & you–

& maybe this is the perfect time

to start a rebellion 

& all that is left is to make a home 

in a dead end world–

all that is left is you.

Writing: Carolyn Stein

Music: Audrey Kang

Art: Kaitlyn Zhou