Text for the Plaque at the Corner of Landon and Naldo

for Matthew Hall

Part 1

Years later he was painting
street scenes of Jamestown
in encaustic

and the same girl
over and over again
trying to get her right.

Spring probably brought him
the best light. I don’t know
maybe in Upstate the season

is so short and requires
so much patience
the waiting got to him.

He showed there, though,
and was celebrated.
His hometown finally

deserving him. He was
as settled as he got,
had a young son and a studio.

I doubt he thought back
much on the trouble
or the billboard

that brought him to Florida.

Part 2

The two of us signed the lease
and then, all our other friends
moved in. Joe, Berry, Chris

Keith Lee and Charley. If you
were 21, in San Marco, and lost,
either we found you

or you found us. At first,
we had neighbors. We stole
their newspapers and did

other unspeakable things.
They were fine people
and we missed them

when they left, one by one.
They probably wanted to sleep,
what concern was that of ours?

The apartment continued
to fill with guitars,
empty beer cans and smoke.

Matty showed me
the Bob Dylan G
and taught me enough

to obsess me for years.
If you’ve ever heard me sing
you have him to thank

or to blame. All the same,
you can’t make being
21 a career.

You’re always hung-over
and your checks never clear.
One October, one Tuesday

we all disappeared.

–February 21, 2016