Sacramento 10th and J Streets

In Sacramento,
Two blocks from the Capitol
Streets once paved by
the discovery of gold
not safe at night.

The streets lead
to suburbs full of
foreclosed homes.
Cars drive past
the historic buildings,
the emporiums
that sold rivets to the railroad
and hardtack and pick axes
to greenhorns headed to the gold fields
Back then Sacramento merchants
knew it was more profitable to mine
the greenhorns than to mine for gold.

Even the city's merchant princes
the Stanfords, Crockers and Huntingtos
all gone now.
In place of the giants of commerce
we now have the pygmies of politics, led by
an ex-Austrian with a steroid
enhanced ego.

Even the pols don't hang around here at night.
The alleys and doorways are filled with
haunted schizophrenics
who panhandle tourists for spare change
to buy Gallo burgundy and Starbucks cappuccinos
all the while ranting about "Godless Whores" and
the "Evil Empire of Pussy."

But this morning on my walk
I saw signs of hope,
like wildflowers blooming
in this landscape of slow decay.
Bureaucrats on bicycles
riding to their cubicles to tend
the workings of this most dysfunctional state.
Planners drawing plans for New Jerusalem
over iced coffees.
Venture capitalists sitting
in a plush hotel lobby practicing
their pitches for state grants
for the next Hewlet Packard.

It is evening rush hour now
and everyone except the homeless
head for home.
As I head for the train station,
I wonder am a leaving
an urban wasteland
or a 21st century frontier.
Standing on the corner of 10th and J Streets
in Sacramento,
I don't really know.

Capitano Tedeschi

30

Sacramento 10th and J Streets copyright April 29, 2010 by Jamie Jacks