walking in new york with the one you love

she travels easy beside me
cracking books and jokes and silences
companions and self-contained emotional humans
alongside one another for the journey
the train missed pulling out of grand central station
and more kisses and coffees and sounds together
we do well in new york
i stop to write she stops to shop
i snap photos on my phone
she says
your photos are really good
i’ve had practice
i say
will you send me those of us in front of the brownstone

at this moment
i would go anywhere with her
an escape from pressured influences
my own aspirations
shooting out like bolts of lightning
striking
out

missing

an element

perhaps it is nonessential
in fact it might be contraindicated
from my past experience
that artists and writers are crazy
i’ve never tried a musician or a poet or a writer
wonder how that would go

pause
the traffic lights are against us
it is raining
she’s found her store
i’ve found a tiny coffee shop with wifi
and local folks
doing creative things
and drinking coffee

we communicate via text messages
i’m walking up the block
done with the sentence
and non-fat latte

another *scene*

that’s life isn’t it

scenes
from our movie
with you in it
i find i don’t want to be alone as much
slightly afraid and mostly joyful
we
travel
well

i order sparkling water with lemon
and listen to the conversations around me
the rain has turned to a storm
just outside of primo
people cars trucks all shuffling in a hurry
to get somewhere
or out of the rain

she has found some magic
treats and gifts
one of her superpowers
thinking about others
loving children
with a firm but gentle hand
the 2nd-grade teacher
you will never forget

here
she comes
damp bags of delight
wet coat and hair
and her cool face braces against mine
magnetic
whole once again

in

primo

raining

<<  back to without : poetry index | next poem