928 CONSTITUTION 

“I search the address on 
Google Maps and, via 
"Street view," find myself 
face to face”—David Trinidad
9773 Comanche Avenue
____________

In this photograph—
My childhood house looks
Gaunt and spectral at sunset

But then everything looked—
That way in Emporia, Kansas
At least it seemed that way
__________

I inherited the house from—
My grandparents, it was a
Few blocks from the campus

It was just a little two-bit—
Midwestern teachers college 
Town next to the railroad tracks
________

The Santa Fe ran thru town—
Most of the people worked there
Including Walter my grandfather

Later he became one of the—
Local country commissioners
But had a stroke and died
_______

I went to college and got my—
Degree in Librarianship then
Retired as a gay recluse poet

I rented rooms to promising—
Young English majors who like
Needed sugar daddy guidance
____________

Faulkner writes about the way—
The light in August is somehow
Different down in Mississippi

It’s that way in Kansas too—
The way it slants down through
The stained-glass windows
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It’s funny the way that—
Midwestern Noir seeps down
Into you when you’re retired

No wonder one gets stoic—
Resigned and despondent as
The evenings lengthen dark