The 4th of July, Canal Street on Sunday
tree roots push sidewalk squares up from beneath the
tents and tables of milk crates holding the bouquets
of bootleg purses that spell Gucci with an H
and plastic watches with plastic diamonds that
rattle when you slip away with household needs from
the dollar store making good on the teased promise
of the big box stores blocking the river from
where Sid’s Hats used to be and offering a chance
to find the ace of spades and quadruple that
twenty in those confidence games older than the
country itself modified by language and
updated by technology so we
no longer need to leave the house to bet
against ourselves
Zak Mucha, LCSW, is a psychoanalyst and president of the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis. He spent seven years working as the supervisor of an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program, providing 24/7 services to persons suffering from severe psychosis, substance abuse issues, and homelessness. He is the author of Emotional Abuse: A Manual for Self-Defense and Swimming to the Horizon: Crack, Psychosis, and Street-Corner Social Work as well as two collections of poetry.
