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. 

Read more of my poetry, essays, and stories at Momentitiousness.com