Why I Love Forest Park

first i guess

would be the

litter nestled in

raw green grass

and houses in various

states of grandeur

and disrepair

vinyl siding and concrete

about ready to

lose it

the weeds always busting through

like epiphanies

the kroger's!

man the kroger's

don't forget the kroger's

sure it is a grocery store

but also a state of mind

even before this

covid-19 bull-shit

it was a major melo-

drama it was

people sick and tired

of groceries sick and tired

of coupons

but going thru the shit

anyway

furious

sleepy faces letting you

know without words

that they have worked their asses

off for almost

nothing and 2

packs of newports please

apartments, duplexes, condos

that one chinese restaurant still

open even though everything

else in its stripmall world has

gone silent

everything even the parking-lot

trees dumbfounded

dialysis

is a lifestyle

here and

the population has been

18,500 for

almost 40 years

still there's don't get me wrong

still there is this

feeling

like you need it

even when you go to that tax office

with the ladies with

fake fingernails

behind the glass partition

looking at you like

you are interrupting their communal

dream of not

doing anything

but waiting to

deny you something

even that is

gold

even that seems to have

purpose, a reminder

that you are here

get used to it