I Heart New York

I Heart New York


There was a time when I, like Manhattan,
Thought I knew it all: that I knew nothing:
Or, at least, not enough. 
When I realized, like Manhattan, I could be
Bought for sixty Dutch guilders by
Foreign mercantilists. 

I, like Manhattan, have built green spaces
Amongst a hard series of concrete and 
Brick and marble and gold.
Infrastructure—tunnels and bridges and roads—
Pour people and effluence through 
My vain: arterial greed. 

I, like Manhattan, am reckless flurry,
A tempestuous never-stopping tax-and- 
Spending, series of facades.
I make my dreams in aggregate, taking
Solace among other invisibles—
Countless among shining stars.

I, like Manhattan, am a soul nation,
Federal in my insulated arrogance, 
Stately as a city on hill.
I am crashing towers, tall then felled, 
A neighbor to Liberty’s torch,
A mecca to Times, and times past.

I’m P-Diddy and Whitman and James.
 Speaking in verse and writing resistance. 
I’m TR and FDR and Eleanor,
 Bully and fearless and proud: pulpiteer.
I’m Rockefeller and Eastman
 Standardizing and image-taking.

And I’m the other boroughs
 And their people.
And I’m the Atlantic seaboard
 And its people.
And I’m the midwest and plains,
 And their people.
And Pacific And Indian.

I, like Manhattan, am all places:
Paris and Port Orange, Tokyo and Baghdad.
I, like Manhattan, am all stages:
Paleozoic and Revolutionary, 
Industrial and post-structured. 

I am New York:
I am America:
I am Earth:
Cosmos. 

There was a time when I, like Manhattan,
Thought I knew nothing, but knew it all,
Or, at least, just enough, 
When I realized that I, like Manhattan, could be
Sold for twenty trillion dollars to 
American oligarchs. 



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