A fixture of the inner city

Lives in the sewers lives on algae lives forever

Steals mail steals checks one child still missing

Sneaks cereal bars from the Nabisco factory dumpster
(when the night guard hears rummaging out back
he puts his earphones on and loudly hums)

Once an uncanny shadow under a bridge
identified by two boys sniffing paint thinner

Makes a moaning sound makes a sobbing sound

Rings the church bell at unlikely hours

Starts weird fires and the sky turns green

Paints ravishing nocturnal murals

In the railroad yard there’s a little vegetable garden
no one remembers planting