twenty cents

8/15/25

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where small coins go far 

pocketed within dusty denim 

stretched jeans because fingers are still

wrinkly from the stained tee soaking in the sink

and why walk to the laundry mat

more than once a week 

tobacco staining the coat comfortably

layered between merciless sun

and heavy curtains stealing turns

the twenty-cent bargain a rolled mind’s jargon

joining peace boredom and places to be

on streets who speak distanced

but in sync with all that is naked

as pretending with sugarcoated ease and

appeal is irrelevant where the pace

is the next evening greeting

concrete breathing coffee beans

and stovetop suppers seep from

open windows trading flow for

unapologetic congestion erasing corners

racing what quickly fades

where fear has its way with

the hours of the day

and the butt of that cigarette 

flicked on the terrace for pigeons

who are first call your name on the

edges of ending dreams

before the screams of seven summoning

steel and stone like seeds splitting in spring

breaking to birth new beginnings.

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