liberty
by Hezekiah Allen Taylor

King Edward VII
stares down at Montreal
smirking
bloodied in whitewash

as if an albino Athena
has just risen from his skull-
split and then re-seamed

but it's just the birds
well, from the birds, anyway

they alight
becoming too comfortable
ruffling feathers
for all they're worth

the streaks fall past
lapels and yet
people still converge
at his feet in total
and complete confidence

an urgent stream of French
swirls in the background
like musak

at the twinkling toes
a backpacker sings
along in attempted
time with his headphones

and I haven't heard that song in years

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
duhduhdum duhduhda dada
One night in Bangkok and dadadum dadadum
hmmm hmm hmmm dadadum duhda
I can feel the devil walking next to me

Francine's Version -- Hezekiah's Version -- Inspiration
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