Chinese Cookies
New York Chinese cookies:
studies in flour and chocolate heaven,
not those thin almond things.
Last Friday
I took the Riverline
to New Jersey Transit.
As I ordered Chinese cookies
and black-and-whites
at Zaro's in Newark Station,
my grandmother's
voice and hands
took the boxes
and carried them with us
all the way back.
She took the 2 train.
I took New Jersey Transit.
She bought them
at the big bakery
a block away.
I traveled ninety miles.
Together we escorted
the boxes back
and forward in time
and made sure
that no cookies broke.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Thursday, October 22, 2015
The Bronx Upon a Time
The Bronx Upon a Time
Six story buildings
with gently
weathered brick
preside
over
the cracks
which give kids a way to
learn the math
of sidewalks.
Women stand
and chat.
Their baby
carriages
snare passersby
who smile.
Cooking smells beckon.
No one is ashamed
to be seen.
Six story buildings
with gently
weathered brick
preside
over
the cracks
which give kids a way to
learn the math
of sidewalks.
Women stand
and chat.
Their baby
carriages
snare passersby
who smile.
Cooking smells beckon.
No one is ashamed
to be seen.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Choosing Up For Dreams
Choosing Up for Dreams
Imagine ten kids
who, instead of choosing
for softball or hoops,
put their fingers out
for dreams
one gets boat
owner and swimming
coach
with small town
bungalow
another gets stockbroker
with wrap around window
condo
another gets electronic
engineer with house
in quiet boring suburb
yet another gets prison
for thirty years
after killing her abuser
and you wish that they
could choose again
just to see if they'd get
something better
but by then the fingers
are clenched in again
and the world sails along
until someone wishes it flat
and dreams squish
pancake style
along with doubts
and possibles
and someone
we can't imagine yet
crows in flat language
"I told you so."
Imagine ten kids
who, instead of choosing
for softball or hoops,
put their fingers out
for dreams
one gets boat
owner and swimming
coach
with small town
bungalow
another gets stockbroker
with wrap around window
condo
another gets electronic
engineer with house
in quiet boring suburb
yet another gets prison
for thirty years
after killing her abuser
and you wish that they
could choose again
just to see if they'd get
something better
but by then the fingers
are clenched in again
and the world sails along
until someone wishes it flat
and dreams squish
pancake style
along with doubts
and possibles
and someone
we can't imagine yet
crows in flat language
"I told you so."
Friday, October 2, 2015
Charms
Charms
To the memory of my grandma, Helen Glaser (1900-1988)
Little sweet squares
in bright colors
resembling flavors
before Lifesavers
You bought them
in Olinsky's
around the corner
when you bought
chocolate kisses
obviously for us,
the kids,
but my mom and dad
liked both
The floors
still had hay stalks
on them
and an appetizing counter
You took a number
and waited
Neighbors talked
and shrank the world
to four streets
They made politics
with their hands
I grew happy
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