summer nights

our pool hall was across from the hospital;
35th and villard.
the walls were made of limestone.
they chipped real easy.
i heard “maybe” in everyone’s voice,
but no one cared about words.
girls played cats cradle without any string
and fixed their hair during bon jovi songs.
men strutted in tank tops and stabbed pool cues in the wall.
i felt like a clown fish surviving the ocean dark.