Fall River, MA is the kind of place that equally
divides you and brings you together.
It’s the darkest shadows looming
behind the brightest lights.

Fall River is where the criminals reside
right next to the most innocent souls.
While the criminal is debating how to get his next fix
in his faded yellow apartment,
the child next door is begging his mother for an ice cream cone.

Fall River is where the scent of fresh Lebanese meat pies
wafting from the door of Sam’s Bakery,
is soon overpowered by the stench
of cigarette smoke and gasoline.

Fall River is where,
on the purple and green playground
at the top of the hill in Kennedy Park,
the graffitied and broken slide and swings
represent the overpowering of innocence.

Fall River is where Sandy, Anne, Dave,
Kristen, Tammy, Madison and Ken reside.
All trying to make the best for themselves
while living in the worst of places.

Fall River is where the artificial luminescence
of the signs of McDonald’s, Walmart and Stop and Shop,
represent the false hope that is given
when the Portuguese housewives gossip to each other
about reviving the town.

Fall River is where Broadway Avenue
is the farthest place in the world from New York City.
The hundreds of apartments in tens of organized streets
in the town of controlled chaos.