Thursday, April 3, 2014

Tenderloin First of Month

It's like a dance of pain
Drugs passing hand to hand
Hey, chiva, chiva, roxys, roxys¹
Pretty names for Shiva things

Just a hint of a glance
'cross a block sets a deal
People spending rent
Maybe getting robbed - maybe

People passed out
On the sidewalk right
Where they fell FACE
Planting BAM! into the concrete

Needles
  in the gutters
   in front of schools
    pass arm to hand
     hang out of passed out arms  Man!

Drinkers so wasted
They fall off the sidewalks
Fall off the sidewalks!
Where'd that wall come from?  Adorable

It gets crazy when people get their checks

¹Chiva is a low grade brownish red heroin from Mexico, it means goat in Spanish.  Not as good as black tar or china white. Roxies are roxycodone, a fast acting form of oxycodone in small blue pills, but sometimes also oxycontin or oxycodone all synthetic opiates.

4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are expert at capturing the spirit or essence of a scene in a few words, while making me mentally slam the brakes with words like 'adorable' or 'maybe.' Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks. Sometimes they are adorable. I have a really mixed relationship with my tenderloin neighbours. I have so much compassion for them, but some of them, sometimes, scare me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I really like the way that maybe works. In it's line it emphasizes the first maybe letting you know that it's a real chance. It also works with the next line as a transition, maybe people passed out. Reading it out loud you can play with it. I love poetry.

    ReplyDelete