Everyone in the know
knows, those who live
up here in Riverdale,
Menchie’s is where
everyone here goes:

Yankees fans after Bat Day,
hurried dads in the Kosher tradition,
cool, hip, young assholes 
making fun of a mom
their own age,
parallel-parking her
white Dodge SUV
perfectly at the corner,
Asian and Greek families
(mostly of girls, who IPhone video with their pals: “We’re at Menchie’s!);
a grown-gay son auditioning
at a play downtown this week,

And me and him,
who’s complaining 
of a brain-freeze headache;
he’s too nervous about 
being chosen for a trial
while on jury duty this week.

Ah, lawyers are
no longer exempt,
like the rest
of us shmucks.

Buck up,
my lonesome cowboy,
we all get to 
do this shit,

But for now,
please enjoy the
ambiance 
outside;
the pink-bricked apartment
buildings behind sunglasses,
the birds dive-bombing
in the sky,
the elder ladies muttering 
about politics,

Darling, this is
a good day;
the pineapple sorbet 
is so fresh… 

The hum inside
often gets silenced
by accident;

just a common distraction

To feel inside 
is not easy
sometimes,
but it’s sometimes

Sweet,
like tasting rare meat
covered in garlic salt
and black pepper,
not a usual treat

For the poor,
except when the
blood comes,
then it’s a
necessary evil.

If you will
pour me a glass
of Roja,
so I can close my
eyes & imagine

That I’m in Argentina,
feasting as the 
tango dancers shake,
while the violins start to hum.

A brief rest from moving
to the second floor,
before their lunch
and after ours

After introductions
were made,
we discussed many
vintages of wine
while gunpowder green tea
was brewing

My friend’s son
just graduated from
culinary school,
he talks of wine and teas,
so a spontaneous 
tea ceremony begins

Her mother,
visiting from Ecuador,
was so lovely.
I want to see her house
in Quinto one day

The tea showed us
several colors and flavors
during the three tastings.

One, smoky and metallic,
like pennies on the tongue

Two, more like spring,
a certain grass, maybe
asparagus 

Third, wet, mellow,
traces of shaved almond.

Amazing, what different
worlds one can find
in a tiny cup,
three times.

Before the new faucet
was chosen and brought
after much deliberation,
I saw him at 59th and 3rd.

He almost didn’t
recognize me in
my old sunglasses;
he said I looked like
Elton John

My new dress
($15)
is short, 
off-the-shoulder,
a red, loose-fitting cotton
marked with white
flowers and birds.

It felt like summer,
before girls
had to wear bras
(but not now)

Strutting eastward
on 59th
like a socialite 
lost from the Hamptons,
it was like easy living
before Monday’s grind

(and it would be nice
if we would have a
working faucet 
before our vacation)

The dog days
of summer 
are still present,
even with 
new appliances 
and dresses
to distract us.

Making up for lost time yesterday,
I stopped almost dead
after 8000 paces;
after consuming a salmon Benedict 
and two helpings of mixed greens,
I pick out my mint leaves 
from my Caribbean mule 
and crushed them between my teeth,
as I spied with my little eyes
the other beautiful people
in the French cafe on Sixth Avenue,
celebrating their birthdays…

I still have ways to go
before the storm starts.

We didn’t visit his house yesterday;
every time I go there with him
I’m in between-times,
seeing souvenirs from the past,
and my first memories of knowing him,
and possible futures, the parties
held there with loved ones,
now here and those maybe in-waiting,
the babies coming thanks to 
his siblings, all singing
the old songs around the table.

But when I visit the house presently,
I feel out of step, as if the
between-times are too near
to touch, or to reach,
which makes reality sometimes 
both boring and confusing.

Why do I feel this way?

He is now well-dressed 
due to his mother’s dictations,
yet today they are too busy 
with other things to visit,
so we go home after rehearsal 
at the Temple,
one hour traveling for a 45-minute
run-through, 
the songs are coming through,
and the times are often changing,
here and between every single line.

I wonder how
all these threads
of humankind 
weave into each other,
like distant characters 
written for the same novel,
and as the plot thickens,
all the colors run together,

Or, a singular note,
starts a fugal phase,
which begins to change
the tonal quality 
within a symphony,
you can still sing the theme
that first note helped to make.

Each good deed 
and kind word
forms an attachment
one can’t live without.
What is it you need?
and have you heard…
the sweetest intentions 
whispered into a shout.

What will happen 
to us in 10 years or so?
For many of us,
we will never know…

Until that day,
when our threads finally fray,
let’s say we will all be loved 
eventually,
because each of us
is a singular note in the world’s
longest-playing symphony,
and a thread 
in a galaxy-large tapestry.