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July 26, 2012
Walking In
Im walkn in:
City workers huddle over subterranean water meters.
Cold n cloudy with a chance of tourists
Shivering line at Mama's in hats and jackets
Rico on the sidewalk now
"Where were u last night?" he asks
My drinking buddy
"Did u find your keyboard?" he continues.
"No."
"You had it when you left. You put it in your pants."
"I know i know but i cannot find it now."
"How much you had to drink?"
"Monday night i had three beers."
I helped Rico catch a raccoon last week and called animal control
We both ride bikes and we are friends now
A shop owner sweeps the street with battered broom
while crippled pigeons graze the concrete sidewalks
Hopping and hoping
Hoping and hopping
Barabary Coast plaques brightly polished by the soles of the souless
And by soleless souls.
Grids of purple glass cylinders cast in concrete sidewalks.
The surreal murals of north beach
At lunch:
The little people sweep up the cigarettes butts the homeless will not have
I wonder if they dreamed of this as kids
A white tattoed drug addict squirms and curses in the afternoon sun
Cotton mouthed he grinds against the sidewalk
like a worm after a rainstorm
cursing at everyone and no one
But no one even sees him
He's the same as the fox gloves and fuchsias and asparagus ferns
They are there
And they are not there
No one sees them and no one cares
A corner flower stand run by a mean asian lady
i don't talk to her any more
i don't spend time around people who are mean to me
not any more
A girl studies the flowers no man will buy her
She thinks about how her life would be beautiful
if only she could find a man to buy her flowers
A man in a denim jacket and smart cap
that wears his keys on a carabiner clip
would buy her Saffrons or Shampoo Ginger
Any man would do really
He doesn't really have to have a smart cap
It would be nice, really
With the cap.
Any flowers would do really
It doesn't have to be Saffrons or Shampoo Ginger
Anything would be better than this
Maybe tulips
Maybe even a single tulip would work.
They're only a dollar, after all.
But no man comes with a cap and she leaves without her flowers
The clouds push back the sun and the temperature drops
and she shivers on the walk home alone
No man. No hat. No tulips. No carabiner keychain.
A person sleeps on the brick sidewalk hungry and cold
Covered by a thin pink blanket shivering in the weak afternoon light
Some padding beneath helps insulate from the bricks
at odd intervals, it shutters and convulses beneath the pink blanket
No sign. No cup. No one stops.
A tourist paints sunscreen on his daughters' faces
He wears no rings
There is no mother
He expertly paints their faces diligently
deliberately
Taking care that no part is missed
His daughters are his canvas
Now he walks off
down the sidewalk
but the older one stops to preen before her reflection
Now twisting the younger girl's hair into a ponytail
Father getting too far away now
The girls bounce down the sidewalk as father slows for them.
Posted by Rob Kiser on July 26, 2012 at 3:36 PM
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