Poem 20
Twenty things that caught my eye while walking home
1.
A soiled Beautyrest mattress
torn and overturned in the alley
2.
St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral
announcing the next pyrogy supper in moveable church sign letters
3.
The weathered sign of Little Italy Foods next to
the laundromat that boasts the best deal in town
4.
Chinese lanterns,
blessing an upstairs balcony with rich red and gold
5.
Early blooming tulips, blessing
the red brick Lambton Block
6.
A sign in a basement window that reads
“It’s all fun and games until somebody roasts your chestnuts”
7.
A four gallon pail holding plants that used to hold
four gallons of Kikkoman soya sauce
8.
A stucco Buddhist temple standing back to back with
A New York Pizza Palace
9.
An auto repair shop named ‘Cantrust’
(in case you needed some assurance)
10.
A back alley claim by the Burger Baron to have
“the best mushrooms in town”
11.
The pawn shop where the elderly owner was robbed and his arm was broken and
they made a documentary about him
12.
An empty storefront jammed full of
garbage and old kitchen equipment
(repeat)
13.
An empty storefront with a reproduction of a Michelangelo painting up against the glass–
on closer inspection it is a jigsaw puzzle dolled up in a white baroque frame
14.
The music venue that is trying to open but
cannot open
15.
Henry’s Grocery.
Supposedly.
16.
A single white sport sock that isn’t white any more near
a purple Pringles can, spilled and ground into the sidewalk
17.
Someone has turned a dirty old futon into
a dirty old lawn futon
18.
A discarded packet of McChicken sauce that I almost step on and soon
a discarded yellow condom that I almost step on
19.
The front lawn so full of garbage you cannot see the house
The forest of overgrowth getting greedy for the garbage,
wrapping her arms around it
They say these things on the lawn belonged to a now-dead daughter.
They say the woman who lives there couldn’t deal with her now-dead daughter’s things
so she has not dealt with the things
20.
The flophouse run by the drug thug
crowded with ramshackle bikes and a grimy stroller
There is a small sign on the window
advising new tenants not to knock if they are not expected
because a child lives here
‘respect my home’