Stand EZ by Stephen Nicholas

Do you remember your first time?
A day of prison riots and hopeful dreams.
A day of disorientation.
Your future life starts at stand EZ.
Or so I was told.
It didn’t quite work out that way.
Yet it’s a place I always come back to.
One way or another.
More through necessity than sentimental longing.
But many a pilgrimage, many a memory.
Of music.
Of neon and concrete.
Of wanting to live forever.
Starting here.

Do you remember your last time?
Making that same journey without adolescent fear?
A night of abandonment.
All life lost and found at stand EZ.
Trying to stay warm.
Drifting drunk and deadbeat meet.
To be spirited away on the Witch Way.
One place or another.
More through necessity than sense of belonging.
But many a pilgrimage, many a memory held.
Of the sleepless city.
Of love and laughter.
Of trying to lose control.
Ending here.

Stephen Nicholas