CHAIR ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

On the side of the road,
next to the concrete barrier
separating the northbound lanes
from the southbound,
a lawn chair.

How does a single chair
come to be placed upright
on the shoulder of the highway?
Why only one chair?
Why not two, and a table as well?
What if I want to watch
the passing traffic with a friend,
where will she sit?
Where will we set
our drinks and hors d’oeuvres?

WALKING ALONG U STREET

Man, was she mad at him,
I mean really pissed,
the way she was yelling
and cursing at him there on the sidewalk,
neverminding all of us walking past
who were looking and wondering what he had done.
He was trying to calm her down,
speaking carefully while walking away,
but that only made her madder.
Someone was gonna get hurt,
and I think it was gonna be him.
I was expecting her to swing one of her bags at him;
the purse in her left hand was big and looked full,
and would’ve hurt, might’ve laid him out flat,
right there on the sidewalk along U Street between 12th and 13th.
I edged over to the curb in case she started swinging.
The guy on a bike next to me
said he saw them come out of a restaurant,
him first, then her, fast,
yelling how dare he leave her with the bill since he had asked her out.
I wonder what ended up happening to them.
They moved on toward 11th Street,
him trying to stay out of range of at least her swing,
and her doggin’ him the whole way.
I moved on toward 16th Street,
minding my business and feeling glad I wasn’t him.
The guy on the bike moved out into traffic,
got honked at by a driver, and flipped him off.

I gotta get into the city more often.