Cabrini Green Housing Project, Chicago

Tonight in the high-rise

windows, Christmas lights 

flicker red, green, white 

shapes almost familiar

wobbly trees, crooked rectangles 

like a child’s drawing 

of a house

Lights flash on, off, 

on…each window a door 

of lit stars appearing 

then disappearing 

in the muted sky

On the street below,

smoke halos hover 

over youths standing 

in a cluster, loose jackets

lifting in chill wind 

Behind the windows, 

small ones look like 

all children look asleep,

heavy cheeks,

soft, open mouths,

as Christmas lights

each face: I’m here, I’m gone,

I’m here… 

Published in The Book of Hopes and Dreams, Bluechrome, 2006