Down The Street Poem by gershon hepner

Down the street where no dogs bark
and there are no trees making shade
the people lack a vital spark—
I wonder, when do they get laid?
Behind on far too many mornings,
and a thousand miles from where
the world’s awake, the only warnings
they hear are not about the air
that they pollute by driving cars,
or water that is lacking in
the serious drought, or trash that scars
the neighborhood, but it is sin
with which they’re so obsessed that they
do not have time enough to care
for dogs, or plant the trees that may
improve the quality of air.
Their lawns they irrigate, and leave
the trash for the collector, sorted
in colored bins that they believe
ensure pollution will be thwarted.

The people down the street are sure
that staying healthy in their souls
will keep the neighborhood so pure,
helped by security patrols,
they won’t need trees or have to worry
about the water or the air;
behind, they’re always in a hurry,
not caring about what I care.
They do get laid, I must suppose,
for many have small kids who play
not in the streets—that they oppose! —
but in the private right-of-way
that is their home, where they won’t learn
what’s critical about the mass
that turned to energy may burn
a planet running out of gas.



Inspired by Bob Dylan’s “One Too Many Mornings” which was broadcast a few nights ago on P.O.V in a performance where Bob was joined by an amazingly powerful Johnny Cash:

Down the street the dogs are barkin'
And the day is a-gettin' dark.
As the night comes in a-fallin',
The dogs 'll lose their bark.
An' the silent night will shatter
From the sounds inside my mind,
For I'm one too many mornings
And a thousand miles behind.
From the crossroads of my doorstep,
My eyes they start to fade,
As I turn my head back to the room
Where my love and I have laid.
An' I gaze back to the street,
The sidewalk and the sign,
And I'm one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind.
It's a restless hungry feeling
That don't mean no one no good,
When ev'rything I'm a-sayin'
You can say it just as good.
You're right from your side,
I'm right from mine.
We're both just one too many mornings
An' a thousand miles behind.



8/12/08