The Avenue is brightly colored acrylic still life
Painted with a median of pastel petals
It's sidewalk splashed with diversity
I observe everything
A mute witness as I sit
On the stoop outside my favorite bar
Is it weird that with almost a decade sober
I still have a favorite bar?

The Avenue is named for the state my mother lives in
The geographic state because
Denial Avenue would be a silly name
For a city street
I scrutinize old men in sooped up
Scooters hitting signs and threatening to sue
The black men stroll with diaper bags
White men strut with doo rags
And none of this is topsy turvy
To me as I sit
On the stoop outside my favorite bar