In the part of town where the porches sag
and evening starts out as an ache,
where the thuggish wind off the dark river
pistol whips the last few pedestrians
and a sweaty woman up in a rented room
moves her broad hips like a jackhammer,
where God has the kind of face he deserves,
the square, brutal forehead of a dirty cop,
I lean on the bar and order a shot and a beer,
and with a cigarette in my fist and the dead
smokestacks of ancient industries to my back,
wait for my luck, or at least the day, to change.
Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of three poetry chapbooks, Death of the Frog Prince (2004) and Heartland (2007), both from FootHills Publishing, and Strangers & Angels (2007) from Scintillating Publications. He was recently nominated for the second time for a Pushcart Prize.
