Wednesday, March 30, 2011

when was the last time

what i'll miss when i leave here:
people speak
on the street, they nod,
smile say hello - how you doin'
what's up?
here, my neighbors ask what
i'm up to and actually
give a shit
about the answer.

eye contact.
it's what i lacked
in the city i love, so many
thousands of miles from here.
there, i knew none
of my neighbors, saw them
only incidentally -
family with three
young kids, the
"punks next door who
burned a sofa in the back yard
once," and never lived
it down
two ladies who grew roses,
the most beautiful
yelloworangepink,
and never minded
when a picked a ton of them.
that's all i knew -
even with walking the entire
neighborhood, finding
my place.

there, people stare
straight ahead,
avert their eyes
to the sidewalk,
which is wet
with the incessant rain.

i will be back there,
in the years to come -
and i wil bring
a smile, a hello
for everyone -
see if i can't startle
them into sudden life,
the corners of their eyes
crinkling

Saturday, March 26, 2011

walking away

& if at this point, i don't
even remember what it is
i'm running from, but
i'm running anyway
& if dragging my shit through
the miles of this country
has changed nothing -
then maybe there is a
deeper issue here
than the inability to
find a place where i can
even believe in the
concept of "home"