The bridge to my ole factory
Crumbled under the fury
Of 70 stenches times 2
That welcomed me back to the Garden City in '06

The high priest of higher learning
and fulfillment
Had lured me away
For a few decades

And the wheels of time
Kept turning and turning
Along the long grinding road
To that elusive greener sanctuary of lore,
The El Dorado of every wide-eyed
Immigrant to foreign shores

A fat black cat floated sideways in the gutter
Between a bevy of fruit vendors,
Bloated by the pungent gases of death;
It was still there when I returned,
5 days later

The roads all seemed to have shrunk,
Overwhelmed by a tsunami
of trucks, cars and mini vans;
All in a rush,
Running late to their own funerals

I gave the driver a few extra dollars
To slow down;
I wanted to be on time
For mine

Feeling like a stranger
In my own backyard,
I scanned the crowded marketplace
For one familiar face
To ask about the dead black cat
floating in the gutter

"He used to run things around here," she said
"Back when rats were shy and scared;
But times have changed
And these new rats have no fear."

And they don't care about clean gutters either.....

~ P (Pablo)
(6/24/2013)