I snatch my headphones
& rush into the
drone of a sultry Manhattan
morning, join a bagel line that loops
around Broadway where the rich
bitch about the wait,
the heat, the sight
of hungry people
sleeping on damp, torn
cardboard, we slalom
around the rancid strays
mewling for bread &
turn up NPR,
drown the peripheral sounds of
poverty & privilege, the chit-chat over
psychiatry, playdates, polished fingernails
embalmed in rosy luster I squeeze
the brown paper package
warm in my manicured hands
dodging puddles of piss I pass plywood
nailed over windows & doors like rows of coffins in the rain
like sadness piled in squalid sleeping bags,
rumps in soiled diapers
hungry for a change.
—
Stacey Z Lawrence is a veteran teacher of Poetry and Drama and the author of Fall Risk published through Finishing Line Press in 2021. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart and Fish prizes. She is a poet for “Writing The Land” a collaboration between Poets and protected land. She holds an MAT in Speech Arts and Dramatics and lives in South Orange, New Jersey.
