BACK WITH THE SIXERS

Black jersey and a Phillies cap, we drove down

early in the morning with him belted in the backseat.

He read the directions printed out from the internet,

we found the Philadelphia zoo, I called him My Navigator.

I remember being amazed at how the Monkey House hadn't

changed since my kindergarten class field trip back in ’72.

Been a while, a long time since we've been back.

We rode on to Independence Mall and took photos

with the Liberty Bell, people in Colonial costumes and

stopped to hear songs played with a hammered dulcimer.

Dinner was Tony Luke’s, a small steel structure surrounded

by chain link fence, wedged under the Walt Whitman Bridge

Cheesesteaks with onions and wiz never tasted so good.

We kicked a soccer ball in the empty parking lot at the new

basketball stadium named after a bank, not the old Spectrum.

Been a while, a long time since we've been back.

In the game, the Sixers and Wizards dueled it out on the court.

It was April, both teams had no chance of seeing the playoffs.

We sat in the cheaper seats, marveling at the three pointers of

Arenas, gasping at Iverson’s crossover dribble magic, high fiving

strangers and the old black guy next to us who shouted loudly-

C’mon now AI don’t let Gilbert show you up, not in your house.

Been a while, a long time since we've been back.