celebrating the sweet death of summer
with some other sinners in the street.
we meet to flip kielbasa
and make Mexican street corn
and bother cute passersby
on Ditmas and 19th.
one of us brings beer,
some friend of a friend brings blow
just as the cops show.
but since we don't have an open flame
and the fact that most of us are white,
they shuffle their belts and give us the business,
moving on to more important murders.
and so we drink and eat,
while old friends show and go
with sad stories and happy tales,
but the setting sun has seen it all
and it soothes our backs now.
skateboarding in the street,
between Buicks and cabs,
goodnights and hellos,
welcoming autumn with a bang,
some guitars and harmonicas on the stoop,
neighbors yelling at us,
but no better place to go.