Old Building
by Martina Reisz Newberry

1. You only have to look
2. at the neon sign                 with one or two letters missing
3. to know that this is a diner,
4. a bar,
5. a motel
6. where desperation thrives.

1. The asphalt parking lot              sports dry grass and puddles of oily water.
2. The entrance is colorless
3. and peeling,
4. broken corner of the glass door
5. hasn’t been mended properly              duct tape (now 30 years old & dirt encrusted).

1. Nude and nearly nude bodies
2. propped in seats,
3. in this uproarious silence of bitter beer
4. on stools,
5. or beds;
6. cyan bodies              cyan the color of the air inside.

1. They are loyal and they remember everything
2. that has happened to them and           are certain of the future –
3. its compulsions,
4. its timelessness.

1. Reality, they tell us,
2. is a brute. Still, we are here.
3. This is what we know.