• ARE WE THERE YET


    the city walks alone in the dark
    cats play in the window by the yard
    children hide and go seek friends
    sniffing wood smoke collecting scents
    paper boys of old steal their hearts
    paper dolls dressed by cohorts
    ready for praise like a wolf hound waits
    thinking everyone’s a master of late

    the city walks alone in broad daylight
    the purse snatchers run from fright
    a stranger looks about their hiding face
    homicide detectives dodged tirades
    watching gangsters drive by shooters
    a piano conceals its U-hauled movers
    catching their breaths by the beat
    while newspapers slide the streets

    but on the country walks alone
    starlings after a rest is done
    chase cats after their chicks
    the discarded pot and broken up lids
    litter the stop signs of man
    children writing names in the sand
    nearly by the burned out body
    the gangs still there but looking oddly