Mission Street
is full of foodstands, rotting fruit
missionary churches. Shouts of mariachi
smogblown pickups with
ladder racks
bumper stickers
running red light cameras.
Valencia Street
is full of oranges, fig jam
wine bars. Bookstores piled high with
fading yellow tomes. Sweetness follows, there's
less gum on sidewalks but
less soul somehow.
Up on Castro, some young man
is getting busy in a bar. Down on Mission
someone's getting 86ed. Down on Valencia
some young college/coder couple are
drinking coffee
speaking Mandarin
holding hands.
And we all float back down to Mission
and we all float back down Valencia.
And we all float back down past the churches
and back down Market to the Bay.