Tenderloin #5

Startled by the hard sun,
he blinks.  He walks
half a block to the corner store.

There is beauty in the lore
these streets speak --
the scummy sidewalks

littered with shit
and detritus remind us
of men who before us stalked them

on their way to gigs
at the Blackhawk;
they hired fast girls

whose legs would unfurl
for cheap gold
and priceless laughs.

He walks half a block
to the corner store
pinned to his path by the traffic's roar.