Summer in Poughkeepsie

Gum sticks to your shoe

Summer in Poughkeepsie.

Lucia enters social services
with some papers in her hand
It’s all in English
She cannot understand.

Standing by the door
letting the time pass,
Diego spends his day
smoking  grass.

There’s not much to do.
Everything feels sticky.
Gum sticks to your shoe.
It’s summer in Poughkeepsie.

There’s a chair in the window
of the old f…