Historic casings house

bad art,

plastic trinkets made in China.

Old people wearing khakis,

white hats, 

push past the doorway.

Crowding shelves of coffee mugs, 

three dollar t-shirts,

tacky key chains,

stating, I’ve been there.

A faded sign, a faded door

the last historic art form.

Competing,

with hot pink, buzzing neon signs.

A blackened doorknob remains.

Varnished with the oils

of a thousand hands.

— Tagen T Baker