City Lights

…..in the city’s perfect emanation of light

                                        -Carolyn Forche

 

Traffic light

_____spotlights

__________the hungry man on the corner

_____holding a cup for change.

 

Christmas lights

_____bring out his high cheekbones

_____ragged pants over thin thighs

__________eating into themselves.

 

Red light district

_____nonexistent

__________in fishnet stockings

_____and black leather miniskirt.

 

Street lights lining

_____dirt road curving

__________around a bend a paved highway

migrant worker and colleagues in an earth-brown

_____van headed southbound

__________to cabbage patches in Watsonville.

 

Boardwalk lights

_____enveloping broken relationships

__________between high school sweethearts in their thirties

their six year-old on a porcelain horse

_____chasing a dream that will always stay

__________a few lengths away.

 

Wall Street lights

_____selling the junk bonds analyst

__________the idea of becoming a poet

his office light is not bright

_____enough for him to live comfortably,

but he feels fine.

 

Porch light

_____waiting for the return

__________of a prodigal son

lost to necessities.