Magnetic colfax by Ken Greenley

Smiley’s Laundromat on Colfax Avenue | (c) 2004 Trevor Brown, Jr., Rich Clarkson & Associates from Colorado 24/7.

MAGNETIC COLFAX

Whenever I’m downtown
I feel an irresistible force
pulling me toward Colfax Avenue
like metal filings to a magnet
Magnetic Colfax
body and soul inexorably drawn
the mend just goes along for the ride
as usual
I plunge into Colfax the river
Tumbling out of the mountains and rolling east
its human salmon jump obstacles
on their way upstream
to spawn something
There I go into the shadow side of the street
with all the walkin all the talkin the drivin the beepin
the whisper the scuttlebutt the propositions the rebukes
with the strutters and the smutters
and the hookers and the hawkers
and the dopers and the drunks
and the roughs and the toughs and the scruffs
here the smiles are more real
and missin a few teeth
join us at the Congress Lounge
as we break into a joint session
see weird shops with even weirder owners
it’s all for sale on Colfax
hot and nasty
even the old men walk tough
right wing and left wing rubbing elbows
and sometimes the fur does fly
but a guy from a station there
loaned me a gas can once
no deposit
“Just bring it back,” he growled
Highly magnetic Colfax
your broken down
roach-infested rooming houses
cheap motels and whorehouses
might indeed the eye offend
might cast a pall on the soul
but it also brings the feeling of something else
something called Truth
Colfax don’t lie
like a lot of institutions and people today
Colfax
sticks its scarred, pockmarked face
right into yours and growls
“Yeah man, I’m Colfax!”
The Truth lives on Colfax
shouts itself
sings a siren song
body and soul inexorably drawn
like metal filings to a magnet
magnetic Colfax
I know I’ll be pulled back soon

Ken Greenley February 4, 1958 – February 12, 2020 was a writer who lived in Denver, Colorado. The number of places he’s lived is only exceeded by the number of job’s he’s had. Greenley liked to explore the themes of class division (in a supposedly classless country), the struggle to stay spiritual in the modern world, and the growth episodes that occur in childhood. He thought art, particularly writing, should combat media brainwashing, and should examine the clash between what we’re told and what really happens. He tried to make his material as funny as possible, because he found it hard to make modern life seriously, and considered it his mission “to make people laugh and think at the same time.”

Much more on Ken Greenley can be found by clicking here… and here…

Much more on Ken Greenley can be found by clicking here…

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