Who Is Stranger?

down lower Canal St

it's mainly about a token mainline,

Soho Manhattan

where Newfoundland fish peddlers

lineup, NY's last hope

earlier we heard a man cry out

then watched high-heeled hipsters

stud cowboy riverfront sightseers point,

laugh, then retreat

as if from a pestilential creature,

the grieving man rocking

dripping from hot scarred arms

his poisoned lungs choking, 

we called the cops

some consider themselves

concrete jungle survivors,

yet we stumble on

giving no shit 

which gutter will summon

our own decayed bodies,

ironically not very distant from garish midtown 

Radio City MOMA retrospectives

9/20/73