Author Information
"Lonely Hawthorne"
by Jeph Johnson
Hawthorne Boulevard is a section of southeast Portland besieged by liberal policies and politics. It is a happy "crunchy granola" sort of place where lesbians walk hand-in-hand without being ridiculed, tie-died deadheads distribute pro-marijuana literature and, although the housing is old, rent is sky-high. Everyone who is anyone remotely associated with "the arts" wants to live on Hawthorne. Each and every telephone pole reads like a rallying cry for the next protest (or at least the next concert). It is impossible to walk down the street without having to make your mind up about something.
__________________________________________________________________
this mundane Monday paraphrased
a week filled with prosaic days
watching people pass me by
shouting causes to the sky
"choose or lose?" I fail to decide
in fact sometimes I sit and sigh
up and down the boulevard
preaching pious seminars
on being holier-than-thou
and choosing the right sacred cow
I shake my head from left to right
deciding which cause to fight
