Alternatives

At 9 th street, Avenue A
I wait for her
unlike fair weather or
time's guillotine
with stopwatch in hand.

Knowing there
are scant truths
we own the script to
or can rewrite but
yet again we
throw our daunting dice.

Yes, her airbrushed
fingerprints have covered
me like like a spy's false steps
from eros to no exit
barely outside police
yellow lines
and yet ...
I wait.
Cause I must
with trembling hand
upon a black book
filled with
perhaps worse
alternatives.