An Alchemy of Words

Beer sign

"Beer sign"

Out of things to recognize,

I watch from the inside

of a streetcar that was

never named Desire,

that was never named anything

but it stops on Dufferin,

the driver's words yearning

over the intercom in shades of grey

which match the streets, the stones,

the faces.

Color beckons from a beer sign like a whore,

luminescent, pubescent

above the crumbling dreams

of architects.