BETWEEN TWO RIVERS

Manhattan, NYC, 1996


East River:                       |         lovers sleep
concrete smokestacks rosy         |         under the oaks, waiting
with morning light                |         for 'As You Like It'
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old man pulls                     |         produce stand:
gleaming striped bass from        |         peppers, plums, lemons,
the murky river                   |         two solemn kids
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newspaper                         |         stone-faced Korean
and low-fat latte - the shop      |         grocer gives the baby
fills with briefcases             |         a strawberry
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the hairy man                     |         hand in hand
harangues Park Avenue -           |         with Mom in Time Square,
listen, listen!                   |         he peeks at hookers
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Central Park:                     |         seminar on
languid ducks ripple              |         Yeats, jazz, and girls:
the skyscrapers                   |         Village bar
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students kiss                     |         whacking golf balls
on the grass between              |         into the Hudson -
unopened textbooks                |         'the crowd goes wild'
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still on page one...              |         through the Narrows,
girls in spring dresses           |         three tall masts
pass his bench                    |         and the Atlantic

(as seen in MIRRORS 1996, volume number VIII)
Copyright © 1996 James T. Mullins

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