-history of civilization-

Fall River —

the setting of the scene.— well,

that is

It molded me and my kind
within a hard landscape
close to the edge of water.

then the immovable 

architecture
clinging to the hill,
arches its back.

once, we were attached to our bikes
like appendages,—
that is, when they moved, we moved
weaving between the blood-

red tinctured granite of the sweltering
textile mills
approached at sunset,

down to the Housing Projects
slung horizontally
below the hill where
the old-world Portuguese fathers
cloistered
their burgeoning daughters,

passing fast beyond the mysterious
Pier 14 barroom
acting-out its secret moods behind its walls
sitting at the bowels of lower Bedford Street
beyond the perimeter
where we pedaled at risk and on our own.

that is, before the girls showed-up.

then in swift sequence
as in the discovery of new
sets of arms
and legs and lips and stars,
the girls were riding fast
along with us,

side-saddling the top-tubes.

history tells us
that because of them
slow dancing came into play
and I can't stress enough
the importance of that momentous
introduction.

so let this serve as the first
installment of the earliest known
place in time
which formed our beginnings,

where me and my kind came to occupy
a space of land at the cape of the water.

                                       Quequechan