The Lady Janet

tawny stucco and tinfoil windows

mustard siding, turmeric bricks

apartments along the top

massages on the corner

a sign out front proclaims

no loitering! no smoking!

but whenever I pass by

there is someone or two or more

loitering and smoking

on the steps of the Lady Janet

rough men with unruly beards

whose clothes are ripped and stained

sharp men in three-piece suits

who have every hair in place

together, chew the fat

loitering and smoking

on the steps of the Lady Janet

young women in tights and Toms

phones poking out of pockets

old ladies in floral shirts

perms poking out of bonnets

together, shoot the breeze

loitering and smoking

on the steps of the Lady Janet

blue steel crowns its brow

creeping bellflower rings its feet

an old chain loosely ropes off a yard

wherein the sign demands

no loitering! no smoking!

but, whether it’s irony, ignorance or spite,

there will always be someone,

young or old, high or low,

ignoring the sign

loitering and smoking

on the steps of the Lady Janet