CuppaGemma

There is no hour, as day takes
night with a hard hand twisting
like pipe cleaners in blue on red
as the shops stay open intentionally

Old Navy insists they make it fun again
and even a Kmart diagonally from R.H. Macy’s
which thankfully is closed and kept the
copper, and only movies make kisses atop

The Empire State sweet because they almost
didn’t happen, tonight it’s just a green cap
with the waft of tourists carrying plastic
sacks of chain pizza that is not Ray’s nor

Any way original as Starbucks pushes too
many corners, so Dunkin’ Donuts has to join
a whole bunch of others to form one large place
where only the lost go late at night…

As luggage wheels in and out and
eyes look up and whisper in other
languages and the gifts glitter
with someplace that, this is, sorta

Supposed to be, and the officers
keep us all in mind and even the
cabbies have gone extra polite but
do not break the paced din of the

Diner guests as we all keep delving
our bent forks into this place with
sparkles on the street that is more
stained with gum and the news wire pulls

Itself past my eyes in a gallop with
more and more to say, and which end of
the street do they drop the ball from
anyway? but please can’t those awful

Pink party bikes go away and there are
little drawn cabs with faded silk flowers
and the trains, hear them rumble as their
black soot humid smell jumps in beside

The burned chestnuts and old pretzels and
where is the good hot dog guy, let’s go get
real knishes down by Cooper, since they
know what to do and never updated to this

Time that ticks into television bytes
aching your head more than the
fourth day of the sixth cup of coffee
Enough. I shall take you somewhere else-

It’s not a quiet little cafe on a side street
since we agree the Avenues are too grand,
nor a perfect little pub with dark walnut
walls and decent bottled ales, it’s another

Place across the water, where we can watch
the lights first and then sit till we are
tired after, we can even smell the sea and
there is wine and some old songs with no dust

And it only can be found, in a certain
now and again, like rainbows in the Falls,
always flickering between mist and wind,
holding us in a little great love