President's Isle/ Memphis City Poem by Kewayne Wadley

Smoke steams from the top the factories
Just a short ways from downtown
The lights sprinkle their essence against the river
Gleaming across the ripples that calmly splash into each other as the sunset is sorely kissed goodbye yet another day
Small pieces that paint a bigger picture as it flows down stream
Here
Around the corner anything can be found
Beautiful scents of the fine eateries
Big to small
As the senses ingest the spices and marinates of the different barbeque glazes that cover the meat
The streets littered with voices
Each with their own story
Trashcans over flow with the wrappers
Beer bottles
Boosters that set their tents in the park as they sold souvenirs
The sounds of live music sing their weary voices
Voices that sing their melodies into the night
Lights that have become moments that have simply stopped in time
Eyes pass by each other in the hope of the fulfillment of the night
As the overcast that hides the moons glorious glare
Visitors check into their hotel rooms
Some for pleasure
Others for business as they hope to take in the sights before they leave
just as others begin to leave wishing to stay another day
The stars twinkle behind the film of clouds
Just before they fell on Alabama
How they ignite a stratosphere of their own
The buildings
A suggestion of a better life built years ago,
Before the liquor that accompanied the warm food in abundance
The glare of her eye suggests more
The throb of her heart could be heard
Heard as the sound of the bees that buzz through the day
Simple prayers that paint the skies at sunset
All could be seen from the parked car along the side of the road