Lonely Island Avenue

Lonely Island Avenue

Coney Island Avenue
with its convergence of cultures
was once the pinnacle of my world

but now it's all wrong 

the familiar is no longer familiar
like an almost-recognizable dreamscape
in which everything is off-kilter
unbalanced
wrong by seconds
liminal

even the few trees
with Brooklyn roots
buried deep beneath rough sidewalk real estate
are strangely out of place
as they sway in time to a silent dirge,
their weary branches ready to shed dried leaves
into chilled autumn air 

the grit is gone,
replaced by clean-cornered panels,
custom windows tinting out the sun
and walls insulated with thick piles
of crisp hundreds
and checks marked with lines of zeroes

I used to walk for hours
but now, I'm lost on streets I used to know
Their warmth, disappeared
just concrete and blacktop awash in dreary desolation, icy newness,
and faded memories
under an unforgiving pale sky
while faint murmurs on the wind
of conversations past
remind me that

nothing feels like home anymore

Author: Rebecca M Ross

Photo: Antonio Gabola on Unsplash