I.
Walking up from the river
in the morning
usually in the morning when it’s cold
you can smell the smokestacks.
Not really smoke-stacks I don’t think it’s smoke
but it’s smells from the factories
old candy factories
oneday cherry oneday chocolate
as you walk back up
from the river
a cold morning.
II.
Talking with a friend
who knows, the kind of friend who really knows:
that smell, the candy smell you smell
from the smokestacks in the morning:
it’s not really smoke and not really even candy
just a smell they pump out
to cover the real smells, the smells of pork
or meat or whatever it is they render
that you don’t want to smell
when you are walking past
or living near there.
III.
Thinking about those stacks
made of bricks real bricks piled high:
and those smells smells like candy
cherry-chocolate chocolate-mint.
The factories have all stopped
no more trucks no more workers
no more pork or whatever.
They still pump out smells
candy smells cherry mint-chocolate
smells to cover the smell
of condominium converted lofts
two-bedroom brick mill style
with river views.
