Where did everyone’s clothes go?
Oh. To make room for the sunshine

Arturo and his friend like Marshall Mathers
no shirts
hair bound in a tight not, slicked
ambling on like characters from Grand Theft Auto
squinting and sizing girls up
growing quiet when they pass

Asian men built like gymnasts
and the lifelong older gentle joggers in tube socks
people go here to walk slow
and let their thought loose

skateboarders
if you’re good
you can use the waterside FDR Drive
if not,
the young ones use Water street to experiment
until they know they can grind in the presence of tourists

under the Brooklyn bridge
the smell of urine and rust
becomes
fish on ice at Fulton Street

as I pass a couple (maybe)
he rasps
if I catch you with another man
I will break your ass over
I will fuck you up and down

he says it like he means it
but I think that’s his way of being tender, familiar
his voice sounds like he lives with many vices
and he needs her more than she

A mami sits in the park with her back to the
ninitos y bebidas
generous figure in tight white pants
teal top
magenta hair and streaks of grey
she is straddling a bench
facing the busy Avenue C
and responding to reggaeton
we see each other and she smiles bigger
and she rides it a little harder

Mami winks at me
because she knows I’m not judging

june 23, 2009

june 21, 2009

When people approach me from the right
I think they think I’m homeless
(sitting on sidewalk)
(unkempt ponytail)
so they stare
And I remember seeing the word
Befuddled on those flashcards
For SAT prep

I dropped the bag
And got up to find a trash
With the wayward m&ms in hand
Except one green one was squashed
I couldn’t find a trash can
When I turned back around
a small Asian woman was picking
up the squashed candy
her eyes were greyed, almost watery
we looked at each other & she didn’t look away
I held out my hand full of dropped candies
she smiled and took them
in doing so, she let go of her cart
which started to roll into the avenue
I caught it
and heard her laugh as she nodded
and
two well dressed women were approaching me
they saw the exchange
and looked at me and smiled
but looked guilty
like we all remembered
how good we have it
a pang
that my trash was this small old women’s good news for the day

Sunning like a lizard on rock now
watching people eat the booze soaked fruit at the bottom of their cocktail
smiling, enjoying it, just like we did on spring weekend in undergrad,  but this time were all in designer sunglasses with designer drama and designed bodies

live music soon
maybe even a movie, Home
or a slow dinner
catching up with Maggie

my computer slipped to a watery grave yesterday
so these days it costs $ 1,900 to remember what it’s like to feel (only somewhat) free

it’s calm, balmy and quieter than you’d expect.

 there is a word in my head- languid- and I can’t remember if it’s the right meaning, but at least the sound of the word languid sounds like today.

dreamlike, slow, like when you wake up naturally on a Sunday and you don’t have to get out of bed yet.

the daughter, Korean maybe, of one of the young women who work here, is beautiful.

she walks back and forth the long aisle  like she’s imagining herself wearing something pretty.

but she has very shy eyes and I try not to look up at her too much.

I hear her little gold rope sandals clack (gently) while she entertains herself this way.

I am writing in my little blue book and I catch her looking at me now.

she was crouched between peoples duffle bags of folded laundry, lightly scented and ready to be returned to their drawers.

they took away her little spot and moved the bags to the shelf.

why do adults always take away the little nooks that children find to play in?

always to make room for something efficient instead of imaginative.

july 18, 2009