Waiting

by Alan Catlin

Waiting, in this city, in this
dream of stopped time, unchanged
habitations, places of business,
hard luck cafes since the turn of
a prior century until urban renewal
bulldozed everything down, imposed
highways, arterials, thoroughfares to
nowhere, everything altered except
the waiting, the whores and strip clubs,
the booze and the sweating faces
of the middle aged men and pretending-
to-be-men-boys, pounding on the bar,
the stage, dollar bills clutched on their
fists, their eyes clouded by alcohol
and weed as the Divine One sheds her
layers, exposing more than skin to these
men and boys soon-to-be-dead in undeclared
war, high speed car wrecks, drunken driving
escapades natural causes, unnatural causes,
still waiting, waiting for what comes next.