new york wherefore art thou?

6000 frequent flier miles away
and screaming infants and an
ancient czech woman braiding my hair
with arthritis hands.

new york i miss you and yet you are here

on every street corner in kreuzberg. at
every bus stop where someone’s been vomiting
and there’s a bar called morgenland full of underage
teenagers smoking poorly rolled cigarettes
that reminds me vaguely of dahlias (rip) 
way-back-when. 

new york i listen for your voice 

over kaffee und kuchen in the afternoon on
oderbergerstrasse but you were always
more driven and made worse decisions
and ran in front of cabs on shrooms. 

berlin would never dare- 
walks too slowly, bikes too aggressively
hurts too weakly.

new york i cannot feel anything anymore
the way bowery and catcalls pressed on
my spine asking for nerves and marrow.

i was used to you and your sarcasm (just enough)
and your reusable nalgene water bottles
and 15 flavors of bargain ice cream with exact
caloric content written out for people like me.

kaffee und kuchen- my body recoils as if to repel
the unknowns. 

new york i want you back (oh i do now)

i want you back (ooh ooh baby)
i want you and everyone in tangled headphones
judging themselves and everyone else.

new york- i still love you.