Wake to bells from domed cathedral outside my window
No Laundry at the Hotel! Directed to 10th and Race St.
Walking to the Laundry in China Town, cold ears don’t warm easily
Asians everywhere… even the street signs are in Chinese
Laundry is through convenience store…
Man behind the counter gives me change and soap
An idle hour passes
Local cast of characters wends their way through china town
An old man waits for his clothes to dry and talks wearily to a young man
Asian mother folds clothes, then bundles child for cold
I follow suit with my clothes and buy a trash bag to carry it home
Take a different route home and stumble across a market
Vendors hustling falafel to flowers, cheese to chow mein
Bustling coffee shop is a cacophony of half-heard conversations
Walking back seems quiet, maybe empty… I want to stay outside watching, breathing
Philadelphia

3 Comments

Leave a Reply to lilithraevyn Cancel reply

  • ouch… 😉

    it was a good trip… while I wouldn’t necessarily want to live there, it’s a great place to visit.

    –sam

  • A lot of places are like that 🙂