wino, new york city : jacob holdt

from holdt's "an outsider looking in...
a danish vagabond's personal journey
through the american underclass"
see his website www.american-pictures.com

s i g n s

:  f r a n k    w a l s h

you can see them coming
even with your eyes closed
but not after a certain age

by then it’s a matter of
listening patiently under worse
conditions, as if from beyond the grave

voices break free from the midden heap
or rise and fall like cold cream
in that first hot cup of morning coffee

at last when the river receded
from the flood plain the stench of corpses
sat up in its Sunday best
as if it were there all the while
the time was wrong but at least in style.

[]

feb. 12. 04

© copyright 2004
frank walsh