always with those
tiny talismans&totems
some superstitious line of defense
against
the impossibility of that life
not as wont to thank God
in those lean years
leaning on 
matchbox luck
to stave off
our no-chance blues
was when
on the corner
they could
hear you holler
and if somebody came around
with something warm
you shared it
those were days of love&wonder
and against a hostile city
we proved our love
all night long
it was a new innocence
a fine religion
in Philly then
when I was 
23.

Jim Trainer’s

work has appeared in Raw Paw 6: Alien, The Waggle, Philadelphia Stories, Divergent Magazine, Anthology Philly, A Series of Moments, PoetryInk, Verbicide Magazine, and the Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review. The release of September, his second full-length collection of poetry, coincides with the founding of Yellow Lark Press. Trainer lives in Austin, Texas where he serves as curator of Going For The Throat, a weekly publication of cynicism, outrage, correspondence, and romance.

Please visit: www.jimtrainer.net