1.6 MILES FROM LAGUARDIA

automatic traffic planes whine below city sound city life even in almost single-digit daylight still busy full moving this is Friday another thought another song just over the bridge empty off-ramp subway stop overhead aimed uptown balconies stacked low-rent high-rise geometry lesson the humanity of park benches and concrete checker games abandoned devoid of banter spoken in worn corduroy cigars dice and singles styrofoam coffee cups huddled in corners alleys chain-link pick-up games collars turned to Battery Park cold front squalling this road is potholes brake lights black-on-orange graffiti from 1986 tired NYPD on patrol my heater on low songs that feel like the answer to prayers close enough to share the same shadow