Here there is
No hope, inherent
There are no beaches
No sand
How do you expect anybody
To develop a sense of hope
When they can’t see the sand?
The best we can do is a playground
With no swings
No slide
No merry-go-round
A carnival came through once
And when it left
It took all the neighborhood wives with it
Now we have fathers
But no Father’s Day
Babies on hips
Spit-up on shoulders
Bottles and backpacks
With snacks
And books to read
To help kids fall asleep
When the bus breaks down
Near the center of town
The supermarket closed last week
But two more bars opened
Across from where
Our church used to be
The only things that survive
Are the things
That stop hope
From thriving
No room here
For things that bloom
Just pock-marked sidewalks
And under-the-table poker games
We don’t have garden views
Or gardens
Or windows that aren’t boarded up
There’s a liquor store
On the corner
That opens at nine
And closes at eleven
Past regulatory hours
Because here
Power rests
In demand
There are five car washes
Not counting the ones
The kids do
Outside the post office
Trying to raise money
To go five miles away
And spend the night
When they get there
So many things
We don’t need
And empty blocks
Where useful things
Could go
A newspaper from two weeks ago
Sticks to the street
And soda bottles
Fill up the trash cans
That line up
Outside every three-family house
The houses that used to be blue
Are grey
The billboards don’t advertise anything anymore
We’re down from four schools
To two
And at night
Only one person
Walks home
Everyone else shuts the blinds
And turns up their tv
But they say a prayer
That the woman walking outside
Gets home okay
Here, prayer is what you pay with
And even then
It’s not enough
People need to see a beach
They need to see the sand
Nothing comes with hope
You can hold it against you
As long as you want
But if it’s not a part of you
If it’s not deep down
Inherent
Then it’ll drive itself away
Nothing here
Was here before
And nothing’s going to be here
Very long
Why should hope be any different, you know?
Why should anything
Be different
When you can hear water
And waves
And the sound of people
Having a good time
But you can’t get to it
You don’t even know
Where it is
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