your people
always know you /
standing at Gate 2
the college football stadium
checking bags
keeping the outside booze
outside / working
night watch on the wharf
sometimes they wander in
looking for coffee
seconds later
it’s a small group AA meeting
and if you’re still trudging
you’re honest

*

(that fellow friend of Bill
will always know)
and you offer the counting
of your days what it means
in whatever
higher power’s name
you use to tie it
all together / makes
the world smaller
more comfortable
somehow. It’s the same
with scribblers
except sometimes
the coffee
tastes better /