An orange sky
against battered buildings
smells of long-time residents leaving.
Conrad’s and Derick’s
waiting for the bus
tells of young artists re-imagining home.
They toggle
back and forth
with lenses and brushes
to suffuse
this phantasmagorical landscape
with red and yellow.
( If there is beauty
in the airport,
but no one sees it,
is it still beauty?)
You, puzzled reader,
casual viewer,
by reading this poem
and lingering
over the gritty tags
are birthing
a neighborhood
no one has seen before.
Two orange suns
are rising/setting
above a single lit window
tilting like an Orson Welles
establishing shot.
Inside, someone waits for your story
to set things straight.
Photos of murals created by the artist Derick Jones and curated by Conrad Benner at the Philadelphia Airport .
Photos by James Horner
