short street

3 Short Street

goodness it’s been a while

your picture today stopped me in my tracks

i see your walls are still blue

and your yard full of childlike delight

i’m so glad kids live there

you were so safe

even with tumult

and sinister sensations

creeping into my young brain

i remember every inch of you

your smell

how my friends and i became

pre-teens and teens

in your basement

i’ve mourned few things

as much as i mourned you

a haven

for all the lost boys

i surrounded myself with

the terrified teens

scraped knees

pillow forts and tears

photo shoots with tie dyed sheets

walls my mom let us mark with chalk

impermanent as the years spent loving you

easily washed away when

the bank took you away

there was a lot of pain there too

so much loss

but after i caught my breath

i found myself hoping

whoever resides in you now

finds you as delightful as you are

i also hope,

that it’s true that red paint

is the hardest to cover

my gift to the bank

for taking you from us

with nostalgia and some residual fury,