inside this stinking alleyway

beside the dumpster’s

 rotting remains

i pick up vanity

wrapped tenderly in connection

and hurl it inside

with yesterday’s fouled waste…

its been easy to leave

what i couldn’t repair

 bleeding

in these streets…

its been too simple

to stand outside of here

drenched in my own blood

saturating  wet bricks

drop by drop

while knowing that prayers

from lone fingerprints

still won’t lead to yesterday’s

truth and belief…

 there’s plenty

of  today’s garbage

that will always

be waiting here for collection…

these tales

of tomorrow

are so far from sight

and so easily erased

heel to toe

with boots heavy

with mud and grime

i ground them into

pavement next to

 cat-piss sprayed walls

 dismissing them from

this narrowing

one-way street…

the deal with regret

and redemption

is that one is too easy

while the other

is anything

but free

you have to decide

quick!

if its time to find the exits

or be trapped

in this

dead-end alley

forever