'round Halsted

‘round Halsted

Annette Clemens

Poetry

The steamy,
sultry affair
of summer
is courted
by the heaviness
of grease
from countless gyros
permeating
the air.

An unshaven man
lurches drunk,
speaking staccato
Greek while grasping
at the arms
of a lithe, young girl
evading his grasp.

The puffed-up
Pomeranian,
her foot-high
furry frame
stands sentry
at the entrance
of Jiorgio’s Cigars.

Blue line
urine stench
quells the air
from the bladders
of lost revelers,
bouncing
train-to-train
after a late
Wrigleyville rally.

Plastic dashboard
Jesus’s align
the window
of Athenian Candle,
outstretched arms
blessing vagrants,
their sacred faces
baking in the sun.