New York Images

 
Eh . . . The New York I first ran into . . . Couldn’t leave fast enough.[/i]


movement
continually movement
night and day
the hour never changes in 32nd Street
no, it’s like a ripened fruit
full-blown and within itself
it’s like an impulsive and dangerous
incarnated avatar
32nd Street
glitter and false promises
all-night movies
for the down trodden
and those searching for
a body to press
peep shows a quarter a pop
working girls patrol looking for cash
ahhh . . . pizza by the slice
kept many a hapless wanderer alive
Broadway two blocks away
may as well been a hundred miles
I speak what I know
from my soul’s compassionless catalogue
of shattered visions
the City remains hungry and cruel
like something structured
frozen in prayer
living in an emptiness
stale air and the smell of pizza-by-the-slice
blood is let here
the heart of the innocent are crushed
32nd Street . . . a savage magical prayer
offered to the lower depths
of Hades

©July 12, 2016 / Jerry Pat Bolton