Delfica on the N Train

                                               False translation of Nerval
                                                         … for Mark Lamoureaux

Do you know the old god on Astoria Boulevard
beneath the N train
and beside the Neptune Diner?
It starts like this, but it's always only starting.

Do you know the temple of the self --
at Tuck-Away, and U-Store-It
and the bitter things we hide there?
And the car crash overpass where
                the viper's pursed lips utter nothing?

Do you know why the Triborough is backed up?
How we tried to span it and saw beyond
To where Jersey and the Hudson blend like smoke --

They came to Queens to drown the gods
and the earth trembled sighs of prophecy
that all temples would grow as one.