Pleasant on a spring day to take the bus & not the subway to my meeting in midtown. I'm dressed nicely & feeling professional, going in to talk about a project I already have agreed to do—don't have to sell myself, I've worked with these people before. When I wrote the poem below, it was long before you could take a photo with your phone. The poem was the photo. Better? Worse? Easier? Lamer?
On the Bus
As much sky tonight in NYC as buildings
along First Ave
on the bus
I’m overcome
Becky’s birthday and I am on my way
8 white wagons and 3 radios
summer at work and some
are going to work
A surveyor strolls the UN grounds, expansive and proud
everyone is beautiful
and relieved, it’s only a dollar
only a dollar and we can ride
into the night that bears your name
There’s Queens down 34th St, wide open
the Nebraska of New York
I’m not a 14th-century serf and I am no tycoon
white dress, bare legs, 93˚
Comfort me, come to me
“I love you my heart is innocent”
Where are you going
July New York?