Sammy takes a walk — A Sonnet by J.G. Sandom

 

I was walking in the Bronx the other day

by Peter's Golden Egg and Jumpin' Jax;

I was movin' slow and beggin' for a j

when a man I knows strut from the railway tracks.

Now me, babe, I ain't never took surprised;

I let this cat come walking down to me.

But when he stopped and looked into my eyes,

I knew that while I stared, I could not see.

"Yo, Sammy bro', you wanna little fix?

A little green, bennies, crank, or coke?

Well, aint' that how you always get your kicks?"

he said, and then he vanished into smoke.

Well, all this bullshit threw me off my shelf:

The dude I'd seen was no one but myself.

 

New York City ~ 1979