montevideo

morning rush
waitress in flight
miscalculates
bumps sidewall
audible owww!

rubs shoulder
order pad in hand
a bruise blooms
another in a series
another shared experience
patrons see their faces
in the coming of purple
this study in collective pain
still lives of the working poor

we eat down
last night’s debt
under a city scene
a small window
into the owner’s own
immigration tale

a parade painted
uruguayan flags flow
the movements of cities
as black women
joy their only flag
dance across the street

just a moment
half a world away
a place called
montevideo

on mayfield road
with the motion of autumn
in another country
on the near side of sleep
these dreams called
by their proper names
sit faint as embers

Jason Baldinger was recently told he looks like a cross between a lumberjack and a genie. He’s also been told he’s not from Pittsburgh but is the physical manifestation of Pittsburgh. Although unsure of either, he does love wandering the country writing poems. He’s penned fifteen books of poetry the newest of which include: The Afterlife is a Hangover (Stubborn Mule Press) and A History of Backroads Misplaced: Selected Poems 2010-2020 (Kung Fu Treachery), and This Still Life with James Benger. His work has appeared across a wide variety of print journals and online. You can hear him read his work on Bandcamp and on lps by The Gotobeds and Theremonster.