come on eileen

between wracks of overalls & ratty coats
in the flatbush thrift store 
we talk about our future apartment 
that will never arrive. 
but we don't know that yet, we're eager.
we're swaying to come on eileen playing
over the store loud speaker. 
am i wondering if we're in love or am i just
sifting through our bodies like parking lots?
i need a winter coat 
even though the sun on the asphalt 
suggests the potential for spring.
what a january can do to you. 
with this constant blushing.
dandelions gossiping underneath the sidewalk.
holding hands & releasing them.
your knuckles like knots in a wooden door. 
you show me three two bedrooms on your phone 
& each building we pass seems like
it might hold a future bedroom. 
christmas lights wrapped around 
a lamp post. a boy on a stoop playing
a slightly out of tune acoustic guitar.
i can still hear come on eileen 
from the thirft store speaker up the street.
we're looking for another stop 
& another. being in the city is frantic.
always feels like we're missing so much 
we're missing so much. i used to think the song was 
about the singer trying to get eileen 
to come to bed with him but 
in between buildings with you 
the song was about time. how you can try
to pull forward. you can try to push over
a month or two. come on come on.
we are far too young & clever. 
but it never arrives any smoother.
my new coat had a hole in the left pocket
but for then i thought it was perfect.
stood on the subway platform with you
as you told me you had found
another apartment & another. 
i decorated my heart 
with our impending windows.
Come on Eileen, 
oh I swear what he means.

tell me someday about plastic bags.
about where you took your legs
that night after we got home. 
does it matter if i loved you 
or if i needed you? At this moment, 
you mean everything.