earth note 118

key west

the blue heaven has become
so damn chic
unlike the endless wild old days
before hotel plunder
lined A1A
now shoveling the homeless & poets
against the tides
neoliberal forget-me-not
singing green parrots
i'm still hopin' fat tueday's cajun band
will get us off our asses
break the sound barrier
the military choppers
seem to dominate now

let one human family
(the mantra of key west)
include every outcast desperado
from maine and pennsylvania
who inched their way south
like caterpillars
hoping only to bloom
like monarchs
far from the rust and wasted horizons
abandoned workshops
empty rails
yesterday's broken promises
have lived out their usefulness

tomorrow is for the dreamers

--- e b bortz