Coffee steams on Formica tops
She works the lot where the neon stops
Her cutter sings on copper foil
Solder smoke in midnight oil
She scores the glass in sodium glow
Where lead lines bend and colors flow
The motel sign burns red and blue
She builds a sky the night breaks through
Hash browns sizzle on the flat grill
Her flux brush paints the lead lines still
Each piece numbered mapped and named
A geometry the dark has claimed
She scores the glass in sodium glow
Where lead lines bend and colors flow
The motel sign burns red and blue
She builds a sky the night breaks through
I flip the eggs she fits the came
Two trades that burn by different flame
Her kiln sits cold in trunk of car
Mine breathes gas behind the bar
She scores the glass in sodium glow
Where lead lines bend and colors flow
The motel sign burns red and blue
She builds a sky the night breaks through
Patina greens the copper vein
Like verdigris on window pane
She taps the joint with wooden dowel
Patient as a morning vowel
No customers at three a.m.
Just her and me and sodium gem
The sign flickers her solder flows
We make our art where nobody goes
Dawn bleeds pink on motel brick
She packs the panel smooth and quick
Waves a glove from driver's seat
I raise my spatula to the street
She scores the glass in sodium glow
Where lead lines bend and colors flow
The motel sign burns red and blue
She builds a sky the night breaks through
One last cut and the lead holds true
She builds a sky the night breaks through
Grill goes cold the colors stay
Lead and light another day
