The 10800 Block

there would be quiet valley nights
I would find myself in bookstores
reading epics of shipwrecks
blessing what I had left
across the wide boulevard
my trudge would turn to glory
as my body made its way
and the ransom went unspent
as my body spilled to bed
and my dreams went unwritten

there would be those nights
now the valley is old and distant
I don’t live there anymore
the din of those places
has turned to what I have now
pre-recorded suspicions
and rain water shoes

I traded quiet valley nights
for what I’d thought would do
and it did, now I think
of running and swaying
of jumping in the waves
of leaving this city
with its porcelains and smooth cool changes
of leaving with her
and taking our chances elsewhere

October 5, 1999