I've Seen Providence

I’ve seen buildings reflect each other over and over, gaze fixed
I’ve seen February shadows fall across canal
I’ve seen orange mist street lamps bigger than the boulevard
I’ve seen hesitations at the curb
I’ve seen nameless people carrying maps
I’ve seen floods of tourists empty to slush-colored roads on a dead night
I’ve seen May clump together in piles
I’ve seen rain sheet over sheet blanket streets
I’ve seen radiant sunlight, silver spires
I’ve seen pollen thick with air
I’ve seen trees spray white seed
I’ve seen sugar bake heavy humidity
I’ve seen florescent blue mornings
I’ve seen the summer sit like a kettle boiling on concrete
I’ve seen the sun eat hillsides in November
I’ve seen snow, silent out to the Hurricane Barrier
I’ve seen Narragansett Bay open up under bridges
I’ve seen Massachusetts, hazy and faraway
I’ve seen Thayer, light by light, Westminster soar overhead
I’ve seen For Rent signs down Benefit
I’ve seen Hope wake to a dawn of new tenants
I’ve seen vomiting dot sidewalks
I’ve seen beer cans counted headache and blurry-eyed on Sunday morning
I’ve seen buildings like toys underneath me eventually invisible in the distance
I’ve seen Providence, an animal shedding its skin
I’ve seen this place pass like cars