Tag Archives: Poems

New York Hoofing

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New York sense
Truck fumes and noise
Taxi cabs, diesel buses, overhead trains
Hot dog vendors, street festivals, Central Park
Penn Station, Port Authority, handbag hawkers, three card monte

New York working in the streets
Pulling my weight plus the load on the road
My boss is on my back again
Seven days a week
Go twenty blocks
Earn my pay
Day after day

New York rhythm
Seven a week
Get me there now
Beat, beat, walking

Go twenty blocks
Away from here
Day after day
Beat, beat, walking

Left foot right foot
Earning my pay
Day after day
Beat, beat, walking

Born and die in
New York City

Born and die in
New York City

Straight to the park
Riding me there
Not really fair
Beat, beat, walking

Left foot right foot
Nothing to say
Earning my pay
Beat, beat, walking

Go twenty blocks
Day after day
Eating my hay
Beat, beat, walking
Beat, beat, walking

The Ghost of Christmas Pluperfect

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I am the Ghost of Christmas Pluperfect
Born when you had decided to ignore your fellow man
Growing when you had decided to take from your fellow man
Matured when you had decided to abuse your fellow man

You are the result of your decisions
Blinded when you had removed your inner sight
Deafened when you had removed your inner ear
Lost when you had removed your inner compass

Reflecting to the world your path’s history
Fated when you had wandered away from home
Dirtied when you had left the well-trodden road
Bleeding when you had tripped over your own stumbling block

Lessons right in front of you
Written when you had screamed for help
Bound when you had lifted your arms to the sky
Learned when you had opened your eyes

Presents within your reach
Taken when you had seen your fingers against the blue sky
Opened when you had touched the white clouds
Thankful when you had become part of our colorful world

You became who you were meant to be
When you had kissed your wife
When you had hugged your children
When you had looked out of your window to feel the joy of neighbors

I took my leave of you
When you had found your need for others
When you had rejoined the family of man
When you had no further use for me

Coffee Shop Table

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Scratched by

Students
Grandparents
Babies
Siblings
Lovers
Silverware
Coins
Coffee cups and plates
Books
Papers
Pens
Arguments
Decisions
Creating
Erasing
Sharing
Spills
Musings

Used by those

Wise
Wicked
Innocent
Deluded
Ignorant
Mad
Rushed
Focused

Works with

Smiles
A soft word
Can I take your order?
More coffee?
Here is your check
A hand over the loose change

Existing for another

Shift
Day
Year
Lifetime
Commercial lease
Refurbishment

Cleaned and cleaned again
Old wood pattern
Medium tan
Off white
Reflections of the ceiling lights on the scratches
Lines and curves
Heads tilt one way then another to see the next story
Shiny pictures of experience
Different wrinkles of age
More tales of years past
Another song from the road
A bard for dining patrons

Closing time
The owner presses the switch
Looks around
Sighs
Walks outside
Locks up
No more stories until morning’s light
Quiet
Late night waiting for the first rush of the day

Coffee shop table

We are its props in the play of life

Downtown Train

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You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
Ready to go to see my friends
I waited for an hour
Twelve trains
Sixty commercials
A billboard change
I thought of you every turnstile open
Each announcement
All conductor calls
Long-haired girls of about your height
Lonely minutes with quiet nothing

You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
No answered calls to your cell
I see reflections of you inside the train on the other platform
  dressed in their uptown clothes
I lean against the white tile wall
Arms outstretched
Fingernails scratching into the grout
Feeling the wind on my face
From the train that should be ours

You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
That knot in my stomach which I haven’t felt since before I knew you
  ties my hope
The station clock does not slow
Does not stop
I’m going to find you five blocks away
You will tell me it was just a silly thing
  in the voice you use when you know that I’m worried
We will go to the corner deli for two coffees in paper cups
  and walk through Central Park to Strawberry Fields
Where we will be still
And hold hands

You said that you would meet me at the subway station
Dressed in your downtown clothes
I must go look for you now
Until I find you
Or you find me
My heart will still be here
Waiting for our train
Looking forward to seeing my friends
With you

Speed Limit

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She flew past me like I was standing still
Reached out, grabbed my heart, and was gone
I caught up with her in traffic and could see my heart on her passenger seat
But she would not lower her window
And then she sped off

I knew her last year
We took many journeys together in her car
Which I knew so very well with me sitting to her right
But one day she starting speeding
And left me in the dust

I followed her on the freeway
Going 70
Feeling like 110
But she slowed down, took the last exit
And I found her in a supermarket parking lot

She rushed into the produce section and I followed
Demanding my heart back
Or some type of long-term lease arrangement
But she just smiled, paid for some groceries
And ran

I followed her to the market exit and watched the heart-thief drive away
Then I walked back into the market to decide who to call
Maybe my insurance agent
But I don’t think that I’m covered for heart-theft
And I decided that eventually I will get a replacement

Maybe even an upgrade