Sunday Evening Spectacle
by Kelsey Bigelow
The downtown streets see few headlights
mostly red and blue on their way up Sixth
Those lights seem to have tripled lately
Unless they haven’t
Unless from my sudden isolation
I see what already existed
like the invisible rocking man
keeping beat on his temples
with hands like answerless prayers
outside the closed church
while others walk by
keeping their lucky distance
It’s getting harder by the tally
and I believe I’ll be culture shocked
into the streets when
old reality attempts a comeback
For now I’ll watch as
the apartments across the way
unknowingly created a Sunday evening spectacle
with their purple orange white lights
Because for the first time
this community greets each other with
Christmas-lit windows and balconies
reminding the rest of solitary downtown
we’re still here
and we’ve still got life in us
—-
Kelsey Bigelow is a Des Moines-based poet and the author of the poetry collection Sprig of Lilac. Learn more at kelkaybpoetry.com.