Trepidation

16th Street Viaduct

Snake arrive on a Monday Morning--
and the wrath of the watchdog in mid-afternoon...
At dusk we sit in a circle smoking
we talk about life
(or is it talk about nothing?)
Jack turns to me, tries to hand me a tape but
already knows that nobody wants it
he's tried to give it away a hundred times
--still can't make himself throw it away

Everett laughs but with trepidation
Dave looks at me like he isn't the same man
Angie and I feel the presence of angels
We're all together
but none of us knows it

Cold prods us on right around sunrise
Walking in twos to avoid watchful eyes
Every car is a cop
every truck is a warning…
A new day that brings us neither rhyme nor purpose,
Only the irregular rhythm of the streets…

It was with some trepidation that he furtively slipped through the door to the porno store. There were two entrances, but both faced the same busy street--a street where cars, and prostitutes can be seen at all hours, and busses all but two hours of the day. It was a street with a bad reputation and one that many feared to walk on alone, but hundreds of people use it to enter the city every day, most paying no attention to the buidlings and people along the way. He was afraid someone would see him when he went into the store, but knew that most people going by in cars wouldn't even look in his direction. The only people that would see him would be the ones in cars looking for drugs or hookers, or others on the street...and the others on the street he didn't have to worry about: hookers, bums, crack dealers, pimps, and of course creatures of the night of every stripe.