Poe is Buried in Baltimore

by John Rocco

That night on the Block
(one entire block in Baltimore
is just a row of cheap bars
and strip joints ending in a police station)
the doormen at the club open the door
to us like we are visiting royalty
dropping a fortune.
I wished I could remember the night before
but that night I get the greatest compliment
from a stripper:
“Do you always have lap dances like that?”

We spilled booze
on his real grave
before we left.