Stopping for a Look Inside

once a year the year rolls around again
its little prickly stabs of
but down the street the salvage place has plenty of bathtubs
its eighteenth century clockface     all the odd palaces
there are thorns on most of the limbs
every time the pendulum swings the crowd gasps in admiration
our old neighborhood is looking a little grungy these days
or at least wear thick gloves and a jacket with heavy sleeves
	the old hollywood club is stripped to its beams
	the bus goes past me as i look through its planked-over windows
	time is slowing down     i remember the
	times i walked past this place on my way to the burger joint
	nothing there i ever noticed except for music sometimes
	now it’s empty     soundless like the inside of time

from Yew Nork (2014)