Merrilyn Street

The people who live in that terrible street
stay home after dark, so there’s no way they’ll meet
with the Men of the Night, along Merrilyn Street.

The gutters contain an assortment of things
like needles, and condoms; an odour that clings
to your nostrils with scents of unspeakable things.

The walls there are covered with spray-painted art
that depicts through graffiti a People apart;
you can read all their pain in that Merrilyn art.

The lawyers and bankers a few blocks away,
in their homes with neat gardens and views of The Bay,
turn their heads and don’t see what is three blocks away.

If you think men are equal; that life’s fair, you might
take a walk along Merrilyn some starlit night.