Ugly City

Weeds grow through cracks

In broken asphalt.

Carcasses stand

In place of businesses,

Long ago abandoned.

Poverty waits,

Under ramshackle roofs for sunset,

And desert heat to subside.

Sidewalks end without reaching

Their destinations.

Boards protect forgotten windows

From rocks seeking something to destroy.

Shattered plastic in 

Unused signs

Tell fractured tales

Of what used to be.

Nothing mended.

New things built.

To distract attention from the old,

The broken, the forgotten.

Desolate, ruined.

Coarse, poor.

Ugly city.