Keep Portland Weird

To celebrate National Poetry Month, The Poetry Box is sharing a Poem-of-the-Day, selected from various anthologies and individual poet collections that we have published over the years.

Please enjoy today’s selection: “Average Afternoon, Portland” by ‘M’ which appears in Keeping It Weird—Poems & Stories of Portland, Oregon

Average Afternoon, Portland

we are deep in the trench of January
winter has its hand
on our bundled up backs
rudely shoveling us like litter
down Glisan street
a man drives a cherry red Chevy 4 X 4
in the opposite direction
payload maxed out with
ladders power saws paint cans drywall
windows rolled all the way down
sound system jacked all the way up
the monkey puppet on his left hand
is smiling
waving indiscriminately at everyone
lip-syncing Tom Jones
it’s not unusual
to be loved by anyone
and just like in a movie
when the sad boy makes
the clutch free throw
even though it’s hokey
we cheer