on gunshots and love in the ghetto of Long Island

7 a.m.







Hempstead is still asleep.
Up and down Delaware Place cars rest
angled against resistance.

Vermont Avenue waits anxiously for its urban rooster -
The Crackhead of the Month
screams his lullaby,
"DADDY'S HOME!"

The dogs bark -
alarmed, they announce his ineffective danger.

Koji has fallen fast in love
with a plushie white princess coat.
To say any less would do our smitten
kitten an injustice.

At 7 a.m. when Hempstead still sleeps
before gunshots greet the sun,
it is good to know that love exists -
even in The Ghetto.









7.28 a.m.