Back in the Old Baltimore Neighborhood

Back in the Old Baltimore Neighborhood

Nan’s house is weather-worn from absentee
neglect and the back alley’s crumbling

the neighbors we knew have moved on
or died, their houses rented, in disrepair

P.S. 22 is now an old folks home
and the playground is overgrown

Washington Boulevard is widened and
the trailer park across the street is gone

part of me is saddened by the loss
part of me says so what, move on

that’s how it goes—the kid whose popsicle
dripped on the alley’s cracked concrete and

swung on Nan’s back yard gate, and
bloodied his nose on the vacant lot tree—

that kid’s been gone a long time, why
expect the places he knew to remain.

Author: Charles Rossiter

Photo: Baron Cole on Unsplash