A Prelude Fur New York
A Prelude Fur New York
one time, at the 96th St. 1 train stop,
I saw a man flick a bottle cap at a
rat on the tracks and seem to kill him dead.
The man smiled to himself in satisfaction,
and the rat jerked in pain onto the third rail,
sending his body flying and flopping until
it stopped in a contorted pose, and I was certain
it was dead.
standing there, feeling sorry for
the rat and envious of the man,
I fell agape, like nothing, a ridge of spit
on the rim of an empty Coke can floating up
the Hudson in a garbage barge. Then,
the rat jerked up, shook itself, and scurried away.
I trudged out of
the subway,
up the rusted stairs,
blinked out into
that sleep squint city,
between big concrete hairs.
after that, I began to pay attention to the
animals in that city…
the redtailed hawk in Central Park, smashing
the head of a pigeon against a branch with its
claw,
the outnumbering millions of pounds of ratflesh
that shiver and writhe beneath all our feet,
the magnificent cockroaches, which would dance in the
street while weapons illume the sky over their quick steps,
the elephants that lumber out of the Holland Tunnel
and into the Garden to headline the circus,
the tiger and the komodo dragon that lived in an
apartment at Adam Clayton Powell and 141st St.,
fed with furtive meat flung by the funny man that
raised them ‘til they forced him and his family to move out.
the coyote caught in Tribeca,
the alligator in Astoria.
Animal Care and Control clacks noose wands, and carts them off.
but before its choked off, animal sound yet yeawOHwels man’s
untimely end. So that, then, there is where it all began again…
“Hapless Griller” by Tim Boyd. For sale information please contact info@allography.com
When the apocalypse happens I can pretty much guarantee that I’ll probably get killed for my second can of beans.
[...] more of the collaboration “Herd” between Tim Boyd and Matthew Sandler please click here. AKPC_IDS += [...]