Ode To Woodlawn

Burned by Arsonists

If you had eyes, you would have seen hundreds, nay, thousands eat and sleep and polish their egos between your walls, under your roofs, inches from your floors

if you had ears, you would have heard the lamentations and exaltations of the young and old, the music of the weird generations, the pioneers, the placaters and the provocateurs alike

if you possessed a nose, you might have noticed, at around 4 last night, the musk of old wood replaced by the twist of burnt timber, thick smoke darkening you and making you sneeze embers and flame, a fire that would send you simultaneously up, up as a lighter-than-air carbon, and down into rbbl n’ brck

had you a tongue, you would have tasted our collegiate desires and hopes, our booze and our ooze, the trackkies and the vagablondes

had you fingers to feel? that might be terrifying