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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Two Alleys

photo by Penny K. Sherman courtesy Bluebell Books

Life is good on Ego Alley*
Lazy days of heat and haze
Sipping margaritas topside
From the Captain's lounge chair
Watching the tourists
Watching you
In your cleverly named boat

While in another alley 
Just a few blocks away
The tourists avert their gaze
While a small boy plays
With a beer can and a stick.
In a puddle of rainwater and piss
He guides his boat around cigarette butts
And a used tampon applicator
Until his mother yells for him to quit.


*"Ego Alley" is a small, narrow waterway that leads to the heart of the city of Annapolis, MD.  It got it's name from the endless parade of boats and yachts that traverse this dead end canal, usually only to see and be seen.