PORTLAND SUMMER

I ate sausage wrapped in squid tubes

and then I ate grilled lamb with a mint sauce

while we watched people dance on a darkened stage

swinging ropes made of fire

he was drinking White Russians claiming it was the season for such

I drank my beer and watched the burning ropes spinning in circles

then walked around the city for hours

and back home again

crossing the bridge

watching the trains come and go

staring down at the calm waters of the Willamette river

stopping to listen to a young activist tell me

for the price of a cup of coffee a day

I could save a young life in another country

while the homeless woman across the street

held out her hand for change

it was a comfortable late September

if only for one of us