Bart Wilcox
Man Outside, Oakland Old City, Broadway
2024, Oil on canvas, 20″ x 16″

No, I was never torn down by
the standard blue Oakland night
shining in from outside. Not
completely.
But it does come up from time to time,
and returning I only pass through it,
but I feel the strains of loneliness
engendered in its old city windows,
some chrome anachronism plopped
on the corner with unbreakable
glass and every light burning. I
am not the man standing outside
this time, with his sea bag
and bus ride, old city
reflected in his old eyes
thick and chalky with cataracts,
but I see him.
How could I not see him?