Madison and 44th
Although it’s been years, I can still describe
the way my first lover placed his hand on my knee,
what my mother served for dinner every night
the week my father and I didn’t speak,
or how the light edged through the half-closed curtain
in my new home, a new country.
Is the bigger picture lost to me,
or is it there, shining in the silver helmet
of a phone kiosk collaged with dominatrix cards?
I had been hitting the big department stores
during January sales, pleased with my shiny bags
full of new clothes, trying to balance
the black receiver, the voice
at the other end, explaining gently.
On that corner, there will always be
pedestrians, taxis, dogs to be walked, shoppers like me.
The city may decide to move those phones,
they may be gone already for all I know.
Although your death won’t come twice to me,
I will never stand there again,
stupid in my new shoes, fumbling for change.
Page(s) 77
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