No Parking Between the Hours of January and December

 

To protect my heart

I encased it in a ticket booth and

built a parking garage over it, four floors

positioned snuggly between an office high rise

and a condo tower, with a bank and

Italian restaurant at the corners

like bookends.

 

I changed the street to one-way

traffic, though the road is often closed

for repairs and is completely shut down

on weekend nights and is heavily

patrolled on weekdays.

 

I erected a detour sign before

the on-ramp and placed orange cones

in the turn lanes.

 

I restrung the river to encircle the city

like a moat and hired captains in costume

to steer gondolas through the round to

give it a friendly feel.

 

--rLp--