Voices circled down from
a red-brown rusty skeleton framed
fire escape. The landings between floors
offering an escape from inside heat
and crying children.
Men with sleeveless t-shirts drink
and smoke cigarettes. Young women
whisper and then giggle, drawing the
leering attention of men in the alley.
A cat sleeps leisurely like driftwood.
Pigeons look down from
the rooftop eyeing their predator.
Latin music, rich with aroma of
dance, escapes from a window
into the dusk of a hot and dry evening.
Roger Singer 