Franklin Avenue

Still locked in a time warp 

Franklin Ave remains the same

The blue theater made way for art space

Which made way for spiders and their webs

Crisscrossing the windows smearing my view

Through the smeary windows

I see chairs piled with dust

Askew in their place

Wondering what truths the walls still hold

Decades earlier driving my yellow car 

East on Franklin Ave

In the shadow of the businesses

That marked the intersection of 11th Ave

I’m stopped tight in my car at a red light

A man wobbles in to my view 

Puts his hands on the hood of my car

Staring at me

Smeary eyes begging to be understood

He looks at me

The light changed from red to green to yellow

And back again

Time

And 

Time again

And still he persisted

Hands on the hood of my car

Staring at me

Smeary eyes begging to be understood

He looks at me

Red to green to yellow

Red to green to yellow

Red to green to yellow

The wind hollows

I am called by the Creator to be patient

His hands resting on the hood of my car

Smeary eyes begging to be understood

He looks at me

Red to green to yellow

At last a figure appears

Gathers his hands

And leads him to the sidewalk

One last time 

Red to green

The man is gone

Escorted from my view

Once seated in my yellow car

Now on foot

Heading east

Past the blue theater

Nothing changes on Franklin Avenue