cities – tinywords

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recession    rising    from    the    factory    stacks    five    small    black

homeless …
a plastic bag drifts
across the sidewalk

heat wave
at the big city
flower market
ten thousand shades
of radiant yellow

slowly
two clouds collide
over rush hour

dense fog
the train evaporates
into a distant horn

flea market~
every old watch
keeps its time

autumn afternoon—
an empty shopping cart
waits at the bus stop

dusk—
ten thousand blackbirds
and no place to park

lit fish stall
open mouths darken
in the night

Gogyohka

she slips
into the blue haze
of memory
Staten Island
Ferry

deep breath
before I enter
the panhandler’s aura

in the distance  gunshots opening the dark

where street meets sunrise—
the steam

traffic jam—
my thoughts
still in motion

       amid fallen leaves
a business card
       still doing its job

Pelham Parkway
between the winter trees
the child’s breath

morning walk
at the crossroads
my thoughts
flow
in Spanglish

commuter platform
a harmonica blowing
the freight train blues

leaving the Tokyo subway,
a hundred umbrellas
rise in unison

rooftop garden—
climbing the stairs
back to nature

gallery tour
the ladies gaze
at the dozing watchman

park bench
pigeons begging
the homeless man

department store sale flyers flying

hotel bar:
                                                                        ice shifts
 and shifts again.

just a flat tire
chained to a lamppost
waning autumn moon

dead birds at the base
of the lit skyscraper
autumn midnight

funeral  procession  the  hitchhiker  tucks  his  thumbs  in  his  pockets

sheltered by the bus stop empties

Buddha eyes—
a hunchbacked woman sweeps
the temple steps

birthday party
the new neighbor
shows his tattoo

sight unseen

my maternal grandfather passed away on june 22 1980 from black lung thanks to 16 years of drilling chopping & chipping coal down in the guts of the white star mineral

dead-end street
every house but one
boarded up

trailing the snail
on the pale gray pavement
an ellipsis . . .

shortest day—
the waiting room clock
at the ICU

January thaw
dog-walkers greet
leashed strangers

black fedora
the blind man
inspects its brim

corner beggar change is everywhere

street preacher
the hooker throws a few coins
in his hat