Alternate recording with Daniel Felsenfeld’s “O, I LIKE the LIFE I’m Living”

A bank was here. Shadow letters remain
Like damp squares of towels peeled from concrete.

Sparse-whiskered kids, their dogs leashed with frayed twine,
Clumsily strum chords on untuned guitars.

They recline and squint, puff roll-ups,
Fatigues worn at the knee, black boots broken.

Their hounds sniff and plead with watery eyes
At mute passersby. Urine pools a corner.

In scattered groups, like aimless parts
Of a convoy attacked from the air,

The motley, medieval jamboree
Swells day by day and gets rowdier.

Above it, three flagpoles angle out like
Antennae, feeling the city’s mulled

Humidity for a message. One small
American flag flaps like an empty sail.

Original appearance in Barrow Street, Fall/Winter 2010