Racial Harmony

It was Thursday
hot
with nothing to do
so I took a cup of iced coffee onto the porch
and sat down to read
or I should say re-read
some Ferlinghetti
getting about three pages into it
before remembering why
I didn’t like Ferlinghetti
when I heard a yell
and a gentle screech
and looked down to see a fat Mexican
getting out of a plumbing van
a black homeless guy coming towards him
saying “You almost hit him!”
and in front of the van was an elderly homeless white guy
asleep in front of a recycling can in the alley
“You almost hit him!” the black guy said
“He shouldn’t have been sleeping in the middle of the alley!”
the fat Mexican said
and the elderly white bum just slept
the black bum saying you almost hit him
the fat Mexican saying he shouldn’t have been sleeping there
and the white bum sleeping there in front of the recycling can
till finally the black bum left only to turn around
and head back towards the fat Mexican plumber who was entering his gate
and apologetically say “You probably didn’t see him”
“No I didn’t” said the Mexican
and that was that
the fat Mexican went home
the black bum left
and the white bum slept
and Ferlinghetti was still terrible
and the old white bum slept
for another five minutes
got up
puked
took a piss
and sat back down
till another neighbor came by and said
“You should go”
so the old guy walked down the alley
to the next one
and the other neighbor
took his groceries in
and fixed a sandwich
and just then
another neighbor came out
to water her daffodils or posies or some flower
humming a sunny song
on a sunny day
for all of us

© 2008 Lee Kitzis