Category: downey

Noon on the Rio Hondo

out on the wide spread of the West
the line between the earth and sky
seems so thin      and we so unprotected
here in the Rio Hondo wash
the sun teases out bits of mirage
from the hot bottom of the concrete channel
while under the Montebello bluffs
a wooden roof and benches form
a place to hide from endless sky
where a clump of men sit in the shade
some homeless      some have just come down
to pass the empty middle of the day
what to say about these men
who have no work to call them back
from the quick breath of a forty minute lunch
flap meat and onions sizzle
on a little grill
lunch preparations     but other than that
they meditate beneath their tree
on an airplane headed to LAX
and the march of sun down to the coast
while on a distant overpass
trucks and cars slow    then stop   then start again
radios play and air conditioners hum
and on this warm day when a beer will feel good
their friend approaches on a bike     a cool case of Modelo
balanced on his handlebars

© Frank Kearns 2015

The Walk Light at Rives Avenue

The Walk Light at Rives Avenue
 seems to take forever to come on.
Cars come down Florence quick and constant,
flowing as an un-swimmable mass
of blurry colors and blinding chrome.
A man on a rusty bicycle stops
and sets his feet on the concrete walk;
plastic bags full of empty cans
sway back and forth on the handle bars.
On the far side a woman in running shoes
leans against the stop light pole,
presses the metal button once,
and pushes back in a long slow stretch.
We have come to a stop at anywhere,
like townspeople frozen on a page
of a yellowed hardbound picture book,
on a city street between world wars,
waiting for the drawbridge to set down,
sharing in casual nod and glance,
this momentary intersection
of unconnected lives,
or travelers bound together,
by a pause on an ancient river bank,
the ferry still at the opposite shore,
the river moving fast in deep mid stream.