Capitol Park

Copyright © 2007 Judith J. Bentley

Beside a bed of purple pansies
she found a folded poem
tossed on red cobblestone
where pedestrians passed on their midday stroll
and squirrels dug down in the moist green grass
for last season’s buried morsels.

She tucked the poem into her pocket
and read the daily news instead--
City Council scandals
and downtown demolition plans
for ornamental street lights, wider sidewalks
and blue banners pointing the way.

A homeless woman gathered her bedding and liquor bottles
and headed to the parking deck stairwell
safe from the falling night rain--
and a young man cycled
past Main Street’s mergers and acquisitions,
wearing three silver rings in his nose.