nearly a decade since I’d ventured here
relying on the sun for a sense of direction
east was the lake and the end of the road
then south along the lakeshore drive
into the city’s familiar streets
over the river and into the deep
of beeping horns and elevated trains
screeching and screaming sounds of release
street upon street layers of cars
and baseball fans streaming out of  bars
 

the forever parks and concrete lawns
I parked at walgreens and walked 10 blocks
to printers row and musty books
spent an hour it looked like rain
wondering if you really go home again
does the mind still reel in ages past
replay the ghosts while you stand aghast
looking through timelines of yesterday
while wearing the age of sometime today
I sigh at my analyzation
 

some things were new and some looked the same
and the city’s Picasso didn’t seem to change
perhaps something else was now inside
the exhibits and walls of the art museum
and I wondered as I past the guardian lions
then out of the metal and over the river
where I hailed a cab to take me now
deeper into the city’s south
aware of the pain seeping out of its bricks
then onto the sidewalks on this humid hot day
the fare clicked over till I was out of cash

I sighed again at the state I was in
and expressed some self at its welcoming