stuck in strange cities
to sit in bars knowing nobody
eating alone in restaurants
or more tv in dead hotel rooms
I’d go walking
not hoping to find
but to see what was there
how the place got built
there is always a river
at the bottom of town
the older architecture
& as I’d rise up taking corkscrew turns
round & around the city streets
the place would slowly unfold
here the place of artisans
working districts one time slums
being gentrified coming up plums
there the old shopping centers
butchers grocers hardware stores
the old mom & pops drop in shops
selling booze detergents high price cans
holding out against the high end places
in the shiny new cut price palaces uptown
until finally feet aching
I’d head back to the hotel go to sleep
& the next day they’d say:
you went where?
don’t you know that’s a dodgy part of town?
& you smile quietly to yourself
thank you for that
but you weren’t around