but in the city of big dreams
and lonely souls
sad sacks
With unfulfilled desires get off from
pop-up designer shops
and artisan crafted socks
sold in parking lots by boogie assholes names Scott.
On one hand
these people pretend to know you
call out hey buddy!
yo bro!
but in reality
these Synthetic families
are only formed out of desires to share $18 dive bar pints with one another
and these families
have no bonds at all.
Meanwhile…
Downtown streets are littered with
liquor stores and Christian Diors on every corner.
guitar-strumming hippies belt out acoustic jams of hope,
inspired by the chance to toke some dope.
optimism:
just a shit-stained sidewalk smeared away with piss.
Meanwhile…
Whoosh of the underground train throws
Hot city air and cinnamon twists across my face /
a giant rat carries a pizza across the tracks
I envy his commitment.
Meanwhile…
Hot holy hell the devil’s kitchen on a summer
Fire with wailing sirens and screaming poets.
Unknown artists dying in roach-infested apartments
with fingers bleeding from scratching out a living.
Cosmopolitan studios two doors down
selling a fucking banana taped to the wall for
six figure sums.
Meanwhile…
the naked cowboy has been evicted
finally priced out of his lot.
times are tough.
Smiles from strangers covered
behind masks.
the streets are hiding a danger you cannot see.
Oh, but the fifth ave corporations are hurting
they need a big government bail-out.
and the thing is?
they’ll probably get one.
Meanwhile…
Jazz nights at the Blue Note
& cocktails at The Dead Rabbit
are a thing of the past.
Broadway a no-show
more covid closures
sure to happen before it’s all over.
Allen Ginsberg’s ghost is howling again…
and again…
Meanwhile…
Robin McNamara has over 125 poems published worldwide. Poems have been placed in Saccharine Poetry, Pink Plastic House, Dreich, Full House Literary Magazine, Dream Journal, & Literary Heist. Robin’s debut chapbook, Under a Mind’s Staircase is being published with Hedgehog Poetry Press in 2021.
Shawn Berman: @sbb_writer.