Just us two. - Two people alone, probably a man and a woman. Cruising up the avenue. - Yes, cruising means 'to walk' or 'to drive', but it is more descriptive than that. When you go to the end of the street and put a letter in the mailbox, you are "walking up the avenue". When you and your friend are travelling along a happy street that is full of people having a good time, and maybe you are looking for a nice restaurant or a nice place to sit down and have a drink, but you're not in a rush, if you are travelling along in this happy way, you are "cruising". Young people go "cruising" all the time. They are just happy to be out with their friends, and having a good time. You strut,you glide. - In this phrase the person who is speaking the poem is describing the person they are "cruising" with. The narrator is saying "you are strutting and you are gliding (up the avenue)". To "strut" means to walk proudly, and to "glide" means to walk in a cool and impressive way. When you see a beautiful person modelling fashion at a fashion show, they will "strut and glide" along the catwalk. But mark our stride. - So again, the narrator is commenting on the other person. I think it is a woman speaking about her male companion (because I associate "strut" with a male). The narrator is saying "you are walking proudly and confidently, but you are still paying attention to me and not walking too fast, or in a way that means you aren't thinking about me at all". To "mark" something in this context means to pay attention to it. Can not beat us when we are side by side. - The narrator ends with a happy boast. She feels great. She is walking along (cruising) with her man. He feels great too (he struts and glides). They feel great being together. They walk at the same pace (they match strides). They feel like an unbeatable team ! So there is a lot of feeling in that short poem.

1 yes an avenue is like a street. 2 you strut you glide means the way a person walks it is not referring to a person called you or glide 3 a stride is on pace or foot step the distance you walk at each stretching out of a leg. so a pace determines the speed you walk. AVENUE a broad road in a town or city, typically having trees at regular intervals along its sides. "tree-lined avenues surround the hotel" NORTH AMERICAN a thoroughfare running at right angles to the streets in a city laid out on a grid pattern. "7th Avenue" BRITISH a tree-lined approach to a country house or similar building. "an avenue of limes" STRUT: 1. walk with a stiff, erect, and apparently arrogant or conceited gait. GLIDE : move with a smooth, quiet continuous motion. "a few gondolas glided past" STRIDE: walk with long, decisive steps in a specified direction. "he strode across the road"