This city

is

ever pregnant

bearing

dreams

bearing

hope

and hopelessness

justice

and injustice

in the same

breath

A sweet stickiness

that does not

release her heirs

without a fight

she is

the mother

and

lover

who won’t

go away

She is an

enigma

a complexity

always

the topic of

discussion

that challenge

to the

impassioned

“Master Fixer”

Her labor lasts

a lifetime

and many

lifetimes over

consecutively

bearing

jewels

and trash

flowers

and thorns

Ever on

the verge

of change

Ever

feigning

sameness

Ever

my home

I stick

by her

midwife

to her ongoing

emergence