March 23, 2006
Have I mentioned
how they gutted Louie’s
the bodega two doors down from us?
Never very good to begin with
it had been going steadily downhill
and eventually seemed almost to collapse
under its own weight
leaving only a hopeless drooping
dirty red and white striped awning behind
I am tantalized now
when I walk past
to peek in and see
what they are doing
Once not much more than a dingy cubby
it is these days a surprisingly large and cavernous space
dark and filled with debris
but with windows at the back
and exposed brick walls
that bode well for some future nicer market or restaurant
And the other day as I approached
the sun was slanting crosswise down the street
the way it does at that time of day
at this time of year
and out of the door flowed this fine curtain of smoke
When I passed I could see that it was only a man
standing inside the doorway smoking a cigarette
but for a second in the golden late afternoon light
there had been this mysterious miasma
It’s been getting a bit warmer lately
but not so warm that I can’t still see
my breath first thing in the morning
Only after sipping coffee granted
but still whenever I see it now
I think of that nice monk Bill told me about who said
that seeing was all you actually needed to be happy
Which would be a completely obnoxious sentiment
if there wasn’t such grain of truth lodged in it
And the cracks in the street
caught my eye crossing Market
The wide stripe of the crosswalk
being broken and broken again
both by crevices and by the streetcar tracks
almost into discreet little boxes
or lozenges of grubby white paint
image source is here
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