Manhattan

$10 watches
in Times Square
where T.G.I's
meets MTV on Broadway.

The Bronx was fleeting
the Met holds gorgeous life in its works
lunch in Soho
walk the Village

Cup of noodles looms above
the yellow cabs
by Ruby Foo's
was that just Pink?

Dakota building
hello, Yoko
I almost expect
to see John's outline in chalk

Take a carriage ride
click through the park
lie on the grass and catch the twins
don't go to Bloomingdales yet
I hear a sale's on this weekend

Rite Aid, sure?
cheap drugs galore
bars and men
carrie and the crew must be near
subway heat
floats up my legs

Billy Joel on 42nd?
49th?
ah, 56th

dinner on 53rd and 9th, ok?
here, read of
MSG and Carnegie
in the NY times

hotdogs, just like on Seinfeld
Toys r us has its own ferris wheel
girls, girls, girls!

harlem
is having a renaissance
it's hardly dangerous
white down there

tkts is somewhat cheap
though Letterman
is harder to get into
La Boheme closed
but there's always RENT!
between Moving Out
and Chicago

Wicked's opening
with Boy from Oz
Take me Out
to Millie
Nine
or Gypsy?

cross now,
rush
buy!

smell it
feel it under your fingernails
taste it between your lips
hear it race and roar
almost louder
than your screaming heart
that tells you:
stay,
Goddammit,
stay.

You finally belong.

Free Parking

In Central Park
the homeless sit on benches
with their head in their hands
while children laugh
aboard the carousel.

Yellow cabs
break up the green and brown
with smatterings of sleeping
reading
and dreaming workers-
wishing the day over
(and it's only lunch).

And just before
I return to the bustle
a squirrel
makes me smile.

Red Subway

Even a subway ride (or three)
is sad today:
how can I leave this all behind?
it feels like another life,
this New York glimpse-
only to be relived in my head
for nights to come.

I am forever molded
by the beat of the city
and I long for the day
I return.

Oz

Just looking at her
one could say
she likes green.

From the nails to the hair
to the watch, socks and shoes
she shines emerald
with strips of grey.

She's the happiest woman
I've ever seen.

Boisterous

In all the characters
the city has thrown at me
my favourite
was on today's S train, track 3.

Singing merrily to himself
Nihongo de
then chanting in english
missing the track 1
makes him reel back: "Waaa?"

Tutting while dancing
from foot to foot
he joins me in the 3rd car
getting off at Times Sq.
with a hop and a skip.

"Who is he talking to?"
a woman asks.
"Totoro", I reply
as I jump at 66th.

3.32 to Westport

In my mind
I am a dancer
singing at Julliard,
living in the Theater district.

In my dreams
I am auditioning
touring
signing autographs
in Shubert alley.

In my heart
I am learning
I am travelling far
I am growing.

Excited and happy
thrilled and amazed
pounding the pavements of New York.

All on my own.