themes

the first voice i hear
through sliding glass-doors
which open onto a small patio
is the voice of a hard-looking
latino man from Brooklyn

i step out onto the patio
because i'm already up
to smoke a cigarette and
it's then that i am able
to place this man's voice
and associate it with a face and
all the other things which give a person character

it first sounds violent and
commanding without
any other shade of distinction

then i hear the new york
or possibly boston
accent

i wonder:
boston or new york?

it sounds more like boston
but i see he's wearing a
yankees cap and
i know that no self-respecting
boston-ite roots for the yankees
because they all root for
boston
or
at least that's
the way it is in movies
and television

he's walking back and forth
hauling stuff either out from or into
a handmade trailer with
wood that looks thin but new
and not nailed down altogether well

the sun is mild compared to
the unpleasant brat it was
yesterday and the week preceding it
but it still looks
meaner than ever

his kids are just as vocal
though not as loud
and they are skimming in and out
and around and through
the scene
the boy chasing the girl or
occasionally disrupting his dad
and provoking him to say things in
either a mild Brooklyn accent or a
harsh Boston one like:
get away from the frickin' chair, chris
get away from the frickin' chair

i am up now but i am still tired
i don't plan on going back to sleep because
there is too much in the way of
reading and other things i hope to accomplish today
my last day off before
the work-week
resumes and disrupts the lazy pace
of the weekend
which i sink into
every time and without fail
like a morphine-induced haze
(or so i assume from what i've seen in movies and from
watching drug-related programs on television)