38th and Chicago

our corner

our bus stop
our drug store
we plodded there with
babies bundled on a sled
after a blizzard

our corner
the curb we bumped
the stroller over
walking to get ice cream
on a blistering hot day

our corner
the grocery that always
cashed a small check for us
so we could go out
on a Saturday night

our corner
where a man was murdered
with callous indifference
by the knee of cruelty
on his neck

our corner where
George Floyd said please
where he said sir
where over and over
he pleaded I can’t breathe

our neighbor
one of us, like us,
who called out mama
before he died
on our corner

Elizabeth Harmatys Park 5/2020