caught the 9:31 from the northbound platform
yellow stand behind me lines faded and mute
went into the city and while the up and comers up and went
and junior executives were hustling and bustling--
I sat on a faded green park bench in the sun
leisurely read a book
or looked at all the scurvy & scurry
all that scurry made me thirsty so I headed over to rush street
went into a new bar that used to be a great old bar
it had been redecorated and was way too bright and trendy for my liking
they redecorated all the old world character out of it
met a woman there///dark hair dark outlook
I asked her how she was doing and she said no, we’ve got nothing in common
I said, “We’re all gonna die someday. At least we’ve got that in common.”
she half-smiled and said “That’s true. Are you gonna buy me a drink?”
she told me over the course of several drinks
that she felt like a Monday-everybody hated her
I told her I loved her in a cheerful tone
but those words were empty and trite
I doubt it made a difference
there’s nothing sadder than a soul crying for the stars
maybe it made her feel worse; we parted and I headed
to where I felt more comfortable with the surroundings
the real downtown among the shabby bus station and shabbier confines
shabby streets and shabby people
shabby alleys with shabby trash
I could hear some jazz music softly coming from an upper floor window
of an old brown brick apartment building
if it was vinyl playing on an old record player, it would be even more cooler than cool
back up against the side of the building just listening for a while
