“Because it’s Safe to Walk Here at Night” by Nancy Koerbel

A poem by alum Nancy Koerbel (poetry, ’92) appears in the Pittsburgh City Paper:

And because it’s mid-July, the dog and I walk long, late,
after the moon’s up and the heat settles, pretending
we’re invisible. Two kids in front of us are sharing a cigarette
and playing Pokémon Go. You can tell. They keep stopping,
starting, looking around. Their cigarette smells really good,
the way cigarettes did once, when smoking was young and delightful.

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