Thursday, July 7, 2011

Sidewalk Gazing


Debra Girard, June 24, 2011

I walk on the battered sidewalk
head tucked down
like  I have a thousand times
read what was scrawled in the cement
like I have a thousand times
A sidewalk bas relief:
"Jose con Ramona
Jose Con Patricia 
Jose con Anci" 
'82.
The "i's" with a circle where the dot should be.
Worn down, but still visible,
like  the fragments of a hieroglyph
stolen from an Egyptian tomb
The message leaving me to wonder if it was written by a group of girls
with crushes on Jose, or angry girls
getting the message out 
in their round adolescent lettering
That Jose was untrue.

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