selected fiction
and
poetry the
noe valley voice
june 2013
Walking Noe Valley
By A.D. Winans
I have walked these streets
For eighteen years
Like a crime photographer
walks his beat
My eyes taking in her every movement
My brain storing real and imagined images
In seventy-seven years
her changes have not eluded me
She is older now
But the two of us manage
To get along
Like business partners
looking after each other’s interest
She is like a cup of strong coffee
Stir her enough
And the flavor floats to the top
I have walked her streets
In good condition
And broken-down physique
Aware there is no neighborhood
Quite like her
She is like a pair of empty shoes
Sitting under the bed
With no feet big enough
To fill them
She is like a squirrel running through
The live wires of a utility pole
She is like Billie Holiday
Drenched in sweat
She is like the face of God
All forgiving in her insatiable lust
For life
A.D. Winans is an award-winning San Francisco
poet. He edited
and published Second Coming for 17 years. His
work has been
published internationally and translated into nine languages.
In 2006, he won a
PEN Award for excellence in literature. In 2009, he was
presented with a PEN
Oakland Lifetime Achievement Award.
