Oh Cabbagetown by Laura Barton
Oh Cabbagetown
Why did I stop seeing you?
With your jagged sidewalks, sunflower showers, and land locked hippie vessels. And cats. So many cats.
Overstuffed couches line uneven porches sprinkled with ashtrays and guitar strings. Lime green shotguns and failed tomato dreams. Those salty silk flowers and that weird fake deer.
The towering turquoise with her sister muted pewter. Side by side, forever trying to look taller than each other, only to share a shadow.
The wall is alive with reflections of these tattered castles. Hometown cap tipped to the side with a smirk. Pinky flutters her lashes from the corner.
Cluttered porches, their cavernous underbellies littered with turnt clay pots and ivy. A dusty beater with a plastic throne tossed upon his head like a crown.
Shotgun soldiers line the high and tight street. Sunset smashing off the Stacks. God’s house. Nestled high in this kooky cabbage patch. A remodel fantasy perched at the dead end. Who will fill her holes?
Top secret chicken coup. Mustang man salutes. The American flag blocks my sunlit welcome window. The grassy inbetweener. Our laughter and songs still echo in the siding; a sepia tone flashback to innocence.
Glass globes and painted pots balance on a narrow railing. Just waiting to be toppled by a bored teenager. Or a drunk yuppie. Or the tornado. Again.
Then there’s Linda. Oh Linda. Still shuffling on. Like you are. She cracks a crooked smile.
Around the namesake bend, Oakland winks at us. Oh the secrets she keeps. Seducing our winding ways.
My dear Cabbagetown, so perfectly imperfect. How sticky and familiar to bump into your ugly beautifuls.
Laura B is a native Atlantan with a love for ritual, poetry, and wandering. This poem is inspired by a sunset walk through the twisted charm of Cabbagetown.
Art and photo by Phillip Oliver.
IG: @oliverphi
Archive
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- October 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- June 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015