Sunday 30 September 2018

First Day


Malden, you smell like donuts,
Gummy sidewalks, and the benches
In front of citizen’s bank where bald
Men in tank tops wait for you to open.
Forgive me my trespasses, it is
My first day. I’ve made it to some
Center ring where the people fly about
Like birds preparing for Janus
And the birds build nests at the top
Of Corinthian pillars. We’ve got
An open floor plan so you can see
Big sky and feel not so old fashioned,
So you can stare off and imagine a woman
In the Philadelphia heat, pulling up her skirt as
She steps over the grass this morning.
In the clocks I wait like moisture, face
Pressed up against some future I might be.
But we are also in the knowledge that
We don't change, the world does, like water
Through a sieve, everything is everything
It was, but different now. And some things,
left behind. I wonder
If I will be happy.
City wind and bus sounds
Store themselves anywhere they can,
Around the corner, in the small of my back.
My family has lived here for four generations.
Who do I think I am
With my blue suede shoes?

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