America's Finest City

by Marcie Wessels

                     street dividers                                             
the haves                                  the have-nots
            the anything helps sign of our times
downtown a bar on every barred corner
            here to eat there to sleep unsheltered
our storefront our retractable welcome banner
           stones on the sidewalk sleeping rough rougher
never mind the awning gap
          every monday moving day
tent city clean-up waste management trucks