Chicagoetry: The Great Black Diamond

THE GREAT BLACK DIAMOND

At the center
Of the universe, at the center
Of the skyline,
Feminine handiwork.
At the center
Of two long, thick, metallic American thighs,

The Diamond.
At the center
Of miles of thrusting
Phalli, the center
Of the visible universe,
Amidst preening, reaching, grasping, often FAILING

Phalli, including the country's
Tallest . . . the ONE building
Everybody asks about,
The ONE building designed
By a woman,
The White Diamond.

Go to the planetarium
And see for yourself.
This time,
Don't take your kids.
Would it be more obvious
If it were pink?

I think
Not.
"What is that diamond-
Shaped building
At the center?"
Yap about the Sears Tower,

Yap about the Trump Tower.
Yap about the Aon Center,
YAMMER about the phalli.
"What is that diamond-shaped building?"
Oh, you mean
The one at the

Center? The ONE
Designed by a
Woman? Careful, there are kids
On the tour bus . . .
"Oh, the Smurfit-Stone Container
Building, from 1983 . . .

When it was first built,
Ice formed on the diamond,
Broke off in chunks,
And landed on the sidewalk
If your HEAD
Wasn't in the way.

So they installed heating pipes
To melt the ice
So it would just
Drip, drip, drip on you, wet wet wet.
Look. See. Georgia O'Keefe
Would be

Jealous. Obvious
Enough?
She trumps Trump.
SHE is the center
Of the visible universe,
The feminine aspect.

Like Trump Tower SLICED OFF
At the base.
Obvious
Enough?
Look.
See.

The center
Of the visible
Universe.
Without
End:
Amen.

-

J. J. Tindall is the Beachwood's poet-in-residence. He can reached at jjtindall@yahoo.com. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.