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Unicorn Chinese Restaurant, Men Smoking

Gretchen Mattox 
Out back in the alley two Chinese men in aprons and uniform hats
-- white folded like newspaper boats
		
light up by the trash bins off Lincoln, their cigarettes flash white
in an otherwise dim scape

greasy smells won ton something or other and all the other 
	social ills
maybe it's good luck to go on hoping

how the dream of a better life stays buoyant like empty boats 
	docked at the Marina
stumped as a child -- how could anything so heavy float?

going through the day to day like that now

carried in spite of ourselves because we are human
and do not understand the meaning of grace

the passing glance of a lifetime streaked light in the ether
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