Chinatown Sunday Morning

'feels good to exercise the ghosts, now and then'

Bergmann propped up in the door

way to the Winter Garden

glassy eyed no vacancy sign lit

riding the golden girl

between sets

into the blankness.

This Sunday morning

walking the empty streets
of Chinatown alone
just me my ghosts and the ever present pigeons

the muted mist tears
too late to save

what I know was simply
always unsavable.

Everybody wants
what they can't have.

Ken e Bujold

©2022

Author's Note

the last two lines in italics are from Art Bergmann's Crawl With Me.
Slight edit to first line, returned it to its original Bergmann.

Reviews

[W. Barrett Munn]

Definitely the place for Ingrid,
W.

[Neville]

nostalgia and sadness often go hand in hand ...... got my foot tapping too :)

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks Nev. Foot tapping is a sure remedy for repelling ghosts :)
Ken e

[Chris Shaw]

A touch of the melancholy here Ken. Not easy going back to old haunts particularly if there are regrets. Second stanza really conveys the emotion in this piece. Good job. Like Lisa said, reminds me of the Stones song lyrics.

Chris

[Ken e Bujold]

Thanks Chris. The melancholy is there, but in smaller dosages than I thought I might find. I haven't been back to Vancouver in a long time, two decades. Walking around has been equal parts enjoyable seeing how it changed, getting lost a few times, and remembering places and faces lost along the way. Thankfully I am not doing this trip alone, would have likely been an entirely different story had I.

Ken e

[Chris Shaw]

Have a good trip. Good you have company.

[Nima.Hope]

Truth is painful sometimes. Never been to Chinatown but you made me imagine it with pigeons flying above.
Nicely penned.
Regards

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks for read and review Nima

[Lisasview]

Reminds me of a song by the Rollin Stones
"Can't always get what you want"
Such a sad but truthful poem
Really enjoyed the ride....
Lisa, now in Spain

[Ken e Bujold]

Thanks Lisa. I am in my old town of Vancouver for few days, on vacation with wife and friends. The 3 poems, Cambie Recollected, Hard Times, and this one can be read as a suite of me wandering around old haunts. The lyrics are from Art Bergmann song, the punk laureate of Can's late 70s early 80s
Ken e

[Lisasview]

Great to write about what one actually knows...and, of course seeing things as you wander in a new light.
Lisa, in Tarragona, Spain on a short vacation..

[W. Barrett Munn]

Stanza 2 is heart wrenching and wonderful. The emotions come from this in waves of something like melancholy tempered with regret.
Winston

[Ken e Bujold]

Thanks Winston. I was up early this morning and decided to take a walk through my old haunts alone. Seeing the changes, and new buildings everywhere got me thinking of what had been there before, which led to memories of people who had been there as well. The feeling was a bit melancholy, but mostly a pleasant drift through time. I rather enjoyed myself.
Ken e