The paint pot decides the facade
Every wall color is whatever mixed acrylic the homeowner brought home from the construction site that week.
How the slope keeps itself standing
The neighborhood built itself on memory.
Three brushes make a rotulista
The sign painter works with a house brush, a flat lettering quill, and whatever bottle cap holds the paint.
Laundry lines map the territory
Between rooftops, steel cable and nylon cord are the only boundary lines the slope ever needed.
The botequim holds the slope together
A bar at every landing, a cold green bottle waiting, and all the meeting minutes spoken out loud.