Leonard Gontarek: City

1

Another shot in this city,

another shot in this beautiful city.

His foot outside the chalk outline.

A policeman nudges it, with his foot, gently back in.

2

The leaves are not city leaves,

black and fragrant with anise.

3

When I wish everyone would go away, take loneliness with them.

4

It is the woman next to me that matters.

Something is wriggling a finger inside her.

I will walk till the pine needles of the city

tick down to the oxidized helmet of Mars.

5

I will walk till lilac and sumac make even the sketchiest parts of the city astonishing.

6

I walked drinking coffee, black, a face rocking in it.

I walked and prayed I wouldn’t get run over by a streetcar named Death.

If someone asks for a light, I hope I have one.

I walked and took two newspapers from the box and tried to sell one to the other side.

7

Darling, I walked till there was one wet branch swaying in the light.

Darling, I walked until it was raining and someone still had their Christmas lights up.

8

I will walk until it is Evening on a Street in Philadelphia.

I will walk until it is night at the end of a black street like a man with a rack of coats on wheels.

I walked until the shadows were parallel to the buildings.

9

Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality

to seem beautiful again.   Don Draper in Mad Men, and Frank O’Hara

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Copyright 2015 Leonard Gontarek