The Undeniable Joe

Undeniable Joe

I leave the late night lounge laughing softly to myself.
Images of Stu and the undeniable Joe,
Who taught me to roll a great joint
To laugh at myself
To relax
Peruse my mind and stir my lips to rhyme.
But time is distance is long,
And this weary campus doesn’t often produce irregular Joes.
The mist that covers the ground and the trees and drips down from the wires sticks to the face,
Long strides but a slow pace,
still little evaporation,
And my minds racing now,
To find my place in---
--but no, that is all beyond me.
The streets are bare of life
Save for a lone-hearted boy, wearing shorts and little else in the brittle air,
returning from some drunken fest,
who grunts hello and passes like gas.

The slope of the walk is gilded by new buds
Poking up in the yellow glow of the nighttime sodium lamps
And new life is screaming for release
After a season of pent up aggression
Smiles all around, only the sound of my footsteps falling on concrete.
Memories of near skirmishes with overly masculine police force
Inspires smiles on the ridiculousness existent in modern law enforcement.
(whose roots writhe in the written word)
And its inability to thumb the cracks
On their dams and walls against the undeniable Joe.
The crack on the pavement
Yields still to new roots and new shoots
That slowly nudge aside
The man-size fishnets of concrete and tree-grates to capture the earth.
Buildings will crumble, and the roads wear away
but the liquid pace of trees flows slow enough to ignore the sad life of mortal men.

Strong bolts of shadow beam down from darkened pine trees,
(a midnight resident calls with now reply)
Lights are scarce in the hotel for hotshots in front of me.
They aren’t aware of the walls or the boundaries beyond their peripheral vision.
They are bothered by the undeniable Joe.
And the fishnets
Can be tread upon
Ever so lightly
With proper balance.
The shrill wind that once was threatens again.
Defensively, my body tenses
Skin screams as hair tries to free itself from every pulling pore
And arms nestle closer to their owners chest.

I pass through the dividing line of Somerville, Massachusetts
And Tufts University.
The dividing and celebrated line. The great wall of defense
The impenetrable wall, keeping out community,
and isolating entrepreneurs.
Disguised as a cycle fence,
and a children’s playground.
The bubble seals itself behind me
and continues to thrive.

(dedicated to a random Joe...wherever you are keep smiling!)