5th and MLK

I wrote this after missing and waiting for a bus at the 5th and Missouri MetroLink station in East Saint Louis, IL.

5^th and MLK

The emotional reaper speaks to the silent tears,

Watching me as I glide past anxious angels,

Thanking the bunched up features and the checkerboard fingers,

The thinking lines and the hollow eyes.

Sepia dreams and black reality,

Take refuge in the lukewarm seat,

Content leaves.

 

I take these feelings into myself,

Adopting puppies - mending wings.

Alone I sing and dance to the symphony of urban calamity,

It’s cool and calm insanity.

I sprawl and wait.

 

The exhaust is caustic and leaves me heavy and breathing.

Cigarettes and futuristic threats that plague.

Signs say we move to fast.

Arrogance laughs at me,

Perched in the tired jowls of authority.

 

I tire of standing in this doorway of crossroads and matches,

Spent tickets and holy socks,

Bottles and the ever present ash.

The constant barrage begs my exterior rubbery and unresponsive,

So my will rages across impossible voids.

 

Smooth surface and sweetness no longer tempt my awakened body,

And the jaggedness of people scratches at me.

Making soup for all with caution and onions,

I understand worth.