Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Poem about the South Side of Seattle



The Shame

Traveling on the Link Light Rail,

Heading south from the prosperous center of Seattle,

Complexion changes, Vietnamese, Filipino, Latino--

Cheap restaurants, graffiti, crummy housing,

People on the streets festooned with tattoos,

The usual storefronts: payday loans, pawn shops, blood plasma operations:

Enough cash for dinner and a few beers

In exchange for a pint of your lifeblood.

And there, to the southwest,

Towering over these shabby digs--

Rainier, world's most beautiful mountain,

Most majestic, hovering over it all,

Yelling out, “Shame! For shame!”

O America! You of the false promises.


[Bob Coughlin / July 22, 2014]

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