Nice Place to Visit

Could you recommend Midtown?
What would you say?
There’s slobs here,
Cops there,
Fear and suspicion everywhere?

Old Church

Women would love to pay a visit, light a candle, pray in the dark.
But they’re leery. Who’s lurking?
So they don’t come. Or not as much.

Men would love to pay a visit, sit in the dark, admire the beauty.
But they are afraid.
Who’s watching me? Who doesn’t trust me?
They don’t feel safe even here.

Exiled

Imagine somebody from a country where God is taken seriously,
Coming here.
Carrying trust in his heart in God’s infinite mercy.
Trying to hang on in America, in Sacto, in Midtown.
Terrified of our infinite nothingness, our pseudo spirituality,
Our hatred of Christianity, our founders, our government, each other,
of everything Western.
For the first time in his life,
He needs God’s infinite mercy for himself.

State of the City

Men gather under freeways,
Women at coffee shops.
One group lamenting the past,
The other amped for the future.