Not the Same Walk: A Poem

This week's post is by Reading poet Mike Schiffman.

Mike Schiffman was born in Reading, graduated from Mt. Penn High School and 

went on to college in New Hampshire and later New York City. He has been writing poetry off and on for some fifty years and has appeared in roughly ten publications, more or less. 

From a habit of postponement my walks

occur at dusk. Most often the same walk--

down Fifth to Front, jaywalking across, then along

a trash lined path under the graffiti stained bridge

emerging by the river. Today, swollen

by constant rain, it moves implacably.

I follow the river to the two-year college,

up Franklin, down Fifth, and home.

More often the river flows calmly in

the winter cold, appearing still, as it

arrives at a small reach of white water,

a brief turbulence, and then another stretch of calm.

The bare winter trees, reaching upwards, branches

etched against the evening's horizon, seem

inevitable, though utterly without design.

But the bridge...it speaks to me as well.

Its arches, viewed from below, are graceful

by default. The concrete, decaying in

many spots, stabilizing iron rods

exposed in others, tells of this city,

its traffic crossing back and forth, day and night,

on the way to some wearying destination.

The morning the rains came I opened the front

door to find the sidewalk matted with trash,

glued to the pavement by the frigid rain.

The day’s pickup hours away, I am

beside myself. Stooping, grabbing, I carry

what I can to my own trash barrel, try to

restore order. Still, debris is everywhere:

one day's remains, my sincerity rebuked.

Want to talk more about Reading, Pennsylvania's transition to 100% clean energy? Join Reading for 100 in a community forum. We meet via Zoom every other Thursday at 6:00 p.m. EST. Call 610-301-1108 or email readingfor100@gmail.com for a link and the date and time of our next session.