ODE to NEW YORK

My city that I love

Gabriel blew his horn
And a city was born
Surrounded by great waters
Whose sweeping currents channeled the river’s edge
To bed along the shores of infamous scope
With peaks and boundaries rising high in the distant sky
A city of intrepid legends
Casting characters from as far and wide as the oceans lie
Grand centrally stationed
Stately and majestic in regal stones
And lofty capped domes
Sitting stoically atop
A mass of rails running beneath its wings
Transporting hubs of nations
From far reaching locations of multifaceted vocations
Careening across the town
To places chorus-lined along metropolis’ pathways
Under rushing feet strutting and striding
Hoofing through the streets night and day
On rock-hard concrete and cold gray clay
Seizing the chance to bathe
In green pastured parks center-crowned
Like Paris roses
blooming in April’s budding springtime fare
Stirring heaven’s air
On walks around placating lakes
And sunshade mantles
To take up broad ways linked
To where village cohorts
Of gay Tonys in toni tops
Flock with pop rock jocks
And where the geese and gander hips hop
With the Jennys from the block
Savoring the sporting life
Escapading in escalades cruising
Down around where NoHo and SoHo
Engage the Tribeca mecca
Where rapturous exhibitions of succulent scents
Intense the taste of fine wines
Under bright sea blue tents
To complement the pricey marks
Of over the top signature shops
As do subdued splendor
Render
the spender
splish splatter matter
Sold to the highest bidder
All in a twitter

Framing the backdrop
Of bus stops
To cloistered tenements
Where shadows walk
Over cracked cement,
East and west side drives,
And river boat rides
To uptown and downtown malls and stalls
Here and yonder
Where
On the street files the miles
Of meeting places
In crowded places
Blurring the many faces
Into a jazz matazz of many “Me’s”
And old-money “we’s”
Up on the roof of terraced plaza tops
Overlooking scenes serene
Depicting twilight
And moon night strolls
Along winding roads
And the valley streamings
Uptown
To where
Ladies sing the blues
In cafes, cabarets,
and back street byways
Whispering the wind songs tunes
To write the plight and might
Of the ocean waters overflowing onto the beach sands
Rushing against the winds of time
Since been
When children splashed and dashed about
Without a shadow of a doubt
That sun’s shining in would never end
That the bright white light
Might cast a shadow of blight
Over Park Avenues’ hues
And brown stones tones
Where the he and she of prosper proportions
Eat their due
While some of you
Eat from the winter cold stone soup kitchens
From trash can empty wishes
And beggar bag lunch dishes
In the sinking sub-mariner
Around and about timeless, mindless, dimeless strongholds
Lining the closets
Of unforeseen bridges and ridges
Over the rainbow rooming houses
Built in a space and place
Where throngs feast on the sights of neon magic times
Their square meal table filled with treats
Placed before visiting hordes
From around the world
Every boy and girl
Bearing images of where was it you came from?
Who came to dance in the streets
To the inner city drum beats
Rapping the stomp laid
by the D train bombers brigade
And let’s don’t forget the “them there mets”
Scaling the giant wall of regrets
Compounded daily with New York jet-fueled fever
Pitching yankee doodle dandy tunes
Of the times paper chase
Covered in gray matters
And tatters on who done it or won it
With consumer platters
Served up on sky rocketing markets
To high rising exchanges
Filling in the gap
On the mapped out
Where to go from
Where is
What the hell is
What for
When the lights black out
On the open-ended night
While the sea walks barefooted
And flails against the insane brain
Who can’t sustain the driving rain
Propelling the sweltering heat blanket
In the sky’s overcoat mist
Like foggy London town
Down under the ocean floor board
Who will survive the deep river veins?
To surface on the waves of chance
To walk in
And carry out
Chinese food and pizza bread
Cooking in the melting pot
While waiting in line for the hot spot
To open up door strings
Attached to web pages
And contact paper plates
Sold in knick-knack stores
on Union Square market places
In the hub bub of screeching sirens,
Blasting horns, stalking pigeons,
Dog walkers,
Bootleg Hawking hawkers,
Ant hill mounds,
Rolling thunder sounds
Languages to confound
“Yo, it’s the po po!”
Meaning, “the NYPD is after me. So I gotsta flee!”
Flip the switch and there’s the chick
Wearing daring dagger eyes
Smarting, “Don’t you look at me!”
Crossing in front of the taxi seacoast
Wishing on a star on Broadway
By the light of the silvery moon beam
Hoping to be seen in the stage-struck courtyard
Banking on a good lead part
To say
Hey,
I was here today
On a warm day in May

The trumpet sounded
For a New York minute
And I was in it

It’s almost like being in love

Whether you live like Trump
Or live in a dump
You can make it there…
Where
It’s up to you
To do,
Or not…
Hey,
It’s your way.
...or the highway
That’s all I gotta say
Oh..
And...uh
Have a nice day.
Peace out.