Into the Forties

Turn the corner of Fort Hamilton at 49th, past the 3 in One Kitchen.  Under the Maimonides pedestrian walkway to 10th, stopping for a hot dog at John's House of Weenies,




past the brick semis housing hospital offices, past the inevitable building site,

past the grandiose junior high, funereal in black,

beyond 9th, down past Post 1357, the Lt. Stanley W. Erickson American Legion, where the sun catches the Mustang out front, & one photograph will never be enough,

down to 8th, and Fashion I Am, across from the empty lot tagged DCEIVE SNOMAN, past the home help leading the tottering couple into a cab, across from the bleak apartment slab, breaking a rowhouse run,

past a line of barreled brick, past St. Agatha's, at Seventh,

down to 6th, & the Flushing Meats truck, idling at the curb by Gonzalez grocery store, and down, down, best of all, the steep dip down to Fifth on Sunset Terrace, harbor in sight.  And home along the avenue.