Fragile Places
A hidden
stamp in mirror walls,
I walk afresh dawn up the
ground floor cavern, tucked-away
slots in Morningside Heights
chill.
Shuffle in
smart-shoed attire,
cooking speckle-shined for this
crowded exchange, flipping off
a switch in time to save me.
From when
that love of brickwork
and high places started to fade
into fantasies of pushing, jumping,
leaping, into the floating fire
escape.
I trap the
madness in champagne
expression, glancing pleasantries
tracing the wax of shoelaces,
the falling of triple-redundant
words to marble floor.
A breath
outside imagined, cigarettes
and motor oil combining in sweat
sense; makes the moving go by
quicker, picture-perfect marking
time.
