sunrise on drumm street

in the big fountain, drained for repairs

a well-dressed chinese woman

wearing latex gloves and rubber boots,

walks carefully inside,

picking up dimes and nickels

off the slimy concrete.

on a bed of flattened cardboard

in a doorway, under a filthy

off-white blanket, two people quietly fuck.

the wild parrots scream

in the naked poplars across the street.

a thin man, in stain-blotched jeans,

stands at the foot of an outdoor stairway

immobilized, and growling.

he holds a green cellophane

candy wrapper in one hand,

reading the ingredients
and barking and making

no move to climb the steps.