Sidewalk Blessings

One day at a time
One word at a time
One moment to the next
One moment better than the rest
One time to make it work
One time to make it last
One moment to make it all
Make sense

Colorful crazy ghetto messy
Dark urban decay
Frothing in the fog
Blooming on the walls
Red juicy letters in the
Bathroom stalls

Dreadlock dreams
Purple rolling mist
Over the gray-green scene
Over the bitter reality of
The cold comfort of
Eucalyptus trees

Dressed in black
Fighting with the seagulls
Blasting their beats
Coughing their sorrows
Cackling their detachment
Hiding the twinge in their needles

The regulars laugh at their jokes
Listen to their thoughts
Remind them that they are human
They remind them every morning
Every morning as they make their way
To catch their train, their job
That they are an acquaintance
A buddy
A friend
A familiar face
Of someone who’s
Worlds apart

A boundary
A line of invisible steel
You can feel it
As they grab for their paper
As they pay for their ticket
As they make their getaway
And make their conversations short and sweet

They shake off the twinge
The twinge of guilt
The twinge of the needy
The twinge of feeling
Someone clinging
Onto a promise that’s empty

Holding a hand that’s
Pulling you down
Into the water
Give them some land
They jump, as if to drown
Save them again right after

“Good luck my friend
Here’s a dollar and a direction
I will be here for you
God bless the land you walk on.”

One day at a time
One word at a time
One moment to the next
One moment better than the rest
One time to make it work
One time to make it last
One moment to make it all
Make sense

more by ANNA ELISE

Photograph by Kent Henderson