wandering on Union Square
sensing fragmented
shades of blue
with a splash of the
occasional taxi
carting drunk lovers
miserable businessmen,
the hungry and horny alike
prowling shaded plastic
hearts on the corner.
handheld impressions,
so many locked
in electric prisons,
even me,
peeking around the corner,
at the red light
hunting for the escape hatch
at the end
of the block.
hearts on four corners
some bleeding, others hard
some starving enough to approach
beggardly appealing
for money, for love
(attention on a summer night)
humanity encased in
an iPhone, or that
Blackberry over there,
technology united.
one division
over all, so
urgent, so
much need,
urgency of now
urgency of awakening
urgency of hunger,
life trickling down
a garbage-filled gutter,
while we spill our guts
in 140 characters or less.
taxis speed, screech
horns blare their incessant need.
lights, always lights,
shiny, ephemeral,
insistent in the night
not one caution light here,
just go or stop.
Don’t slow down.
midnight on union square
that inky place inside
the impossible,
sowing possibility
the lonely stay lonely
(but sometimes get lucky)
like that guy over there.
I sometimes wonder
Is distance lucky?
Or just safe?
midnight on union square
insecure security,
proximity too near,
and yet
it catches me up short,
cries
danger
distance
barriers
dark corners,
flashing reds…
while all the time
trading fours on mellow
old guitars or
chipped trumpets,
riffing
bygone tunes
in random keys
at midnight.
