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still working on the title, and know this one's a little long...thanks for bearing with me...happy 4th weekend!

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it’s a lonely walk
around my block
so much to see
i just hope no one sees me

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not sure why i do it
take that walk
around my block
heading South
i weave around
septic puddles and litter
cars narrowly miss
troublemakers on bikes
no one has taught them
about consequences

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i skip over a motionless lizard
ants swarming her bloated carcass
no doubt
she met her fate
when one of those bikers missed his
eyes down
head up
shoulders back
i walk
deliberately
carefully

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scattered shells of an afternoon snack
leave a trail
to the multi-family home next door
the sweet scent of marijuana
wafting, as a sketched cloud
of cartoon smoke,
is a welcomed change
from the stench of rotting fish
and garbage blanketing me
and my freshly washed hair
like the rainwater shower
i almost got one block back
when a car drove through a gutter pond
four feet from where i stood
NO RESPECT
my outstretched arms shouted angrily
JERK

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turning East
my eyes catch the face of an older man
we nod hello
i smile and he
returns the gesture
we are strangers
and the smiles
are the defenses
we wouldn’t need
in another part of town
i trust you, neighbor
his seems to say

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i’d like to think
these streets unite us
somehow
but they don’t
and we both know it

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up ahead two unattended children play
too close to Tampa street
a one-way racetrack to downtown
three men in black
loom at the bus stop
twenty feet from them
i am sure to stay on
their side of the street
a sign of allegiance
though, if you asked,
i doubt they’d share the sentiment
or question my motivation
muggy today, isn’t it?!
a man on a bike chimes out
his defenses in tune
you could say that! i laugh
singing his song
a little too nervously
a little too late
he is out of my sight
i was never in his

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the mosquitoes are out with a vengeance
the result of days of heavy downpour
and standing water
i am pinpricked and swollen
eyes down
head up
shoulders back
i soldier on

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i clutch my purse a little tighter
and turn the corner, heading West
a black cat with glowing eyes
peers above the overgrown blades
of an under-tended garden
instinctively, i call to the cat
he stares in my direction, hypnotic
as if to remind me
that i don’t want him
to cross my path after all
and he is right

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moving North
toward home
i spot a police car
out of the corner of my eye
good to know

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i dodge another puddle
and three more bikes
to reach the corner of
Ola and Columbus
a break in traffic
and i am free
free to cross over
no one seems to notice me
the way i notice them
eyes down
head up
shoulders back
i carry on

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i scan the sidewalk
on that last stretch
the bloated lizard is gone
voices talk a little too loudly
in the background
and i am relieved to see my house
in the foreground

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it’s a lonely walk
around my block
so much to see
and just as i’d hoped
no one really saw me.

Posted by Alexis on July 5, 2008
Tags: Uncategorized

« Previous: Brilliance Waiting Next: Post 4th of July »
Total comments on this page: 4

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sue walker on whole page :

Hi Alexis,

It looks as if the blog is deserted — so thanks for posting.

I like your poem. It is like taking a walk — right along with the speaker of the poem. I like the feel of being “along for the walk” — and seeing the puddles and litter, the lizard, etc. I like the feeling of dis-ease — as if he walk holds potential dangers — not the least of which is being hit by a car — and maybe something as simple as being sprayed / splattered by water.

I like the way the poem presents the rather randomness of what appears on a walk. And I like the way the poem ends by echoing the beginning — the not being seen.

You make me think of how a “walker” may be seen — but ignored in such a way that he ‘ she isn’t seen at all. What does stay with anyone when they walk around the block? Is it like the puddle that is going to disappear — and who will know that it was there at all — and who might have encountered it.

I’ll have to post a note to our lost bloggers.

SBW

go to text » Reply »
July 6, 2008 8:38 pm
Vivian on paragraph -1:

Alexis, I like it. The title is inspired. The false “hope no one sees me” in the first stanza leads hauntingly to the “no one really saw me” lament at the end. And it is very effective for the speaker to go with “eyes down head up shoulders back” leaving us to wonder whether he’s watching where he walks or avoiding eye contact.

go to text » Reply »
July 7, 2008 1:44 pm
Meagan M. on whole page :

The neighborhood you’ve created is so vividly described. I especially like the inclusion of smells, the marijuana and rotting fish and garbage. It’s what really pulled me into the world, I think. It’s also interesting that the speaker is in the unique position of really “seeing” other people and her environment when no one else seems to be looking.

go to text » Reply »
July 8, 2008 6:22 pm
Vivian on whole page :

Alexis, I like it. The title is inspired. The false “hope no one sees me” in the first stanza leads hauntingly to the “no one really saw me” lament at the end. And it is very effective for the speaker to go with “eyes down head up shoulders back” leaving us to wonder whether he’s watching where he walks or avoiding eye contact. (I am inserting this comment again. Even though I could see it in “Recent Comments,” I couldn’t see it here.)

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July 9, 2008 1:44 pm
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