Tuesday, August 18, 2015

7046. WALKING THROUGH THE DARK

WALKING THROUGH 
THE DARK
It was on Union Street, in San Francisco, in fact;
I was walking with a guy now dead, who isn't, from
those days. It was dark, fairly late at night, and we were
forging along in the half-cool bay air. He was smoking
a cigarette, and little was said. There were no carnival
rides in those days  -  everything was dead serious. 
-
People who had passed through town, they'd all already 
left, with their little sundry stories to tell, those big cars
they all dragged around in  -  too big, actually for Lombard
Street  - which was a running joke. Probably the only thing
we ever laughed at. The Art Institute and Coit Tower, the
Embarcadero, Fred Martin and Bob Mahaffey, I thought
they were all funny in their way. Get me some coffee.
Get me some Chinese food from Edsel Ford Wong.
-
I had a room at a little, sailor's hotel down by the piers  -  
dim light, no showers, a few women always hanging around.
A couple of southern types lived nearby, always hopping up 
cars with loud pipes and extra carburetion or something.
It was pretty hard even just to get decent coffee  -  late
nights, early mornings, everything just passed.
The guy with the Chinese restaurant,
'Edsel Ford Wong'  -  yeah, that was
really his name.

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