safe as houses
seagulls are protesting / in the dawn skies / above the post office
we’re waiting / by the hot dog cart / for our buses to
Baltimore / Pittsburgh / Boston / Washington
it’s cold enough to snow / but the young Australian / is wearing an open / denim jacket / over a t-shirt
trying not to shiver / as he discusses college / with an Asian woman /
who has a British accent
no one knows where to stand / for which bus / so the affable coffee drinker / in his knit cap / says “Boston” / over and over again / to each person who approaches
the ride from Brooklyn / to Manhattan / was stereotypical / of the kind of New York / you don’t really see these days
vomit on the A train / (twice) / the smell of sewage / rising like a physical presence / from the grates in the street
that said / New York is cleaner now / safer / in every sense of the word
you can’t imagine the Velvets / blasting into the world / with this New York / as a launching pad
not when Katy Perry / stands five stories tall / in Times Square / next to an illuminated M&M
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