Hackensack
A drunken painter rolls cabbage roses
over hallway walls
dull green atop dull green
The mother’s housecoat
surrenders to a thousand Spam suppers
Gray-haired milky-eyed
her son drags one twisted
boat of a foot behind the other
Ping
ding
the radiator performs Japanese opera
Or it’s a sock-drying device
A couple of strays
hump behind trashcans
Modest they turn their heads from
the blue beam of our flashlight
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