ON WEDNESDAYS
We ignore the backdrop of condos
the marble gated heavens
that keep the clean faced
from the people like us
hiding from the rain in the gazebo
I come here on Wednesdays
in my work boots, wait for my plug
read junkie love poems
to rafael, joseph, and mark
they pay me in stories
rafael was the hardest working man
this side of the Mississippi
until his youngest graduated school
now he’s back on the needle
now he’s back living in a tent
up on the rocks that hangs over
the cresting waves, he put his time in
Joseph and Mark don’t talk much
they beat their feet to the rhythm
of our words, laugh and bare
the purest smiles I’ve ever seen
everything is beautiful in this moment
but you’re looking down from your balcony
with your golden straw, hand on your phone
ready to tell the pigs to come chase us off
to tell them we’re not gone like you want us to be
you can always tell how much money a man has
by how high he holds his shoulders
that’s why we’re down here sulking
as above so below
you’re not so different though
you know that ATM is far away when you’re lonely
with that last twenty whispering to you
don’t you want to feel good?
don’t you want to feel like somebody?
About the Author: Damian Rucci is a writer and author of five poetry books including his latest Don’t Call it a Relapse (Punk Provincial Press 2019), founder of the Poetry in the Port reading series, and was a Poet in Residence at the Osage Arts Community in Belle, Missouri. He can be contacted at @damianrucci on Twitter and damian.rucci@gmail.com
More By Damian Rucci:
Image Credit: ” GAP ROAD, LOOP OVER, VIEW INSIDE OVERPASS. – Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, The Loop Over Bridge, Newfound Gap Road 8.6 miles from park entrance, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, TN” The Library of Congress (public domain)
As It Ought To Be 