abe at the park corner by the
museum his molded coat
blowing can view the giant
abe talking to a giant kid –
word is that statue is due to
move on – some people like it –
at the fifth st corner abe sits
on a bench his metal paper reads
“with malice toward none” you
could sit beside him yesterday he
was masked today it’s gone his view
is of a huge painting of himself done
in pixels covers a whole buildingside –
some people like it though it obscures
lindsay’s “rose and lotus wedding” on
the next wall (seldom noticed anyway)
I haven’t toted up all the variations of
lincoln that grace our fair city but “Abe”
I say (for I’m on talking terms with the
16th president since he leaned on my
newel post once) “Abe, what is it like to
see yourself every time you turn around?”
2020 Jacqueline Jackson
This article appears in Reinventing police.
