First & Pike
Published in Living Waters Review, 2022
By Grace Cram
First & Pike, Seattle
Public Market myriad of
fish from ice box coolers;
inanimate eyes staring profoundly
at ogling buyers
and attracting flies
for me to swat at as I speed walk by.
Crinkling my nose,
almost colliding with the peddler offering plumcot:
(Fusion of two things we’ve known forever:
Why had I not thought of it before?)
I munch on candied nuts that give
cobblestone crunch to sightseeing flavor —
Climb second-story political bookshops that provide
a window seat by which to form one’s view —
Ponder chewed gum on brick:
more family-friendly than graffiti.
Jabber of dualistic slang
patter of misty rain
so familiar, you lean into it like an old lover.
And above it all,
needle constantly rotating,
trying to carve the same babbling circle
into blue dome.
And in response,
drawing fresh tears and gauze
with which to mend itself morning after morning.