New York, New York

by Janet I. Buck

From distances, from cobblestoned naiveté
you were a city of chills:
crowded streets of suits and ties,
surly frowns, prison bars on window glass.
I saw a pasture drowned in mace,
maps of penciled busyness
turning pages of an hour.
Footage shines on CNN;
heroes cut my tongue in two.
Now I wallow in my shame,
wear the rust of judgment blades.

New York, New York
will sing again and I will proudly
sit a grain in little pills of subway cars,
read graffiti like a kiss
my feeble lips must herald
in their cracking pose.
Bays around our liberties are filling up
with scraps of hate personified.
Terror tried to slit your wrists;
fingers joined in trinities;
a poem of hope emerges from the graven ash.
Moons above the urban rubble
linger in chipped bars of soap.

Strike the ivory with our blood —
fragrances run rivers
from collective streams.
War drums beat. I never thought
I'd grab a stick, pound
with all my muscle fire.
Never thought I'd love
the sound of steel planes
cutting through the cotton clouds.

Janet Buck's poetry, poetics, and fiction have appeared in The Pedestal Magazine, Poetry Magazine.com, CrossConnect, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Kimera, The Rose & Thorn, 2River View, Southern Ocean Review, Disquieting Muses, Urban Spaghetti, Perihelion, Mind Fire, Born Magazine, pif, 3rd Muse, Verse Libre Quarterly, Big Bridge, pith and hundreds of journals world-wide. Buck was one of U.S. poets to be featured at the "One Heart, One World" Exhibit at the United Nations Exhibit Hall in New York City in April, 2000. In January 2001, Art Villa Records released Janet's first audio CD of poetry and music called Before the Rose. It is available at: http://www.artvilla.com/shopping/poetry/rose.htm To hear a sample from the CD, go to: http://www.artvilla.com/mp3/umbrellas.mp3.
Note: Featured author in January 2001
E-mail: JBuck22874@aol.com
Writing interests: Poetry
Poems: "The Orphan", "Caught in Lesser Tragedies", "The Broken Promise", "The Gargoyle", "The Going", "The Bag Lady", "Rushing Toward Entelechy", "The Paralyzed Apocalypse", "Frozen Sonnets", "New York, New York", "Live on CNN", "America Under Siege", "Gutter Balls"
Links: Hot Links: Janet I. Buck, Janet's Latest Interview, Desideratum's Doggie Dish, Author's Den, Active Amp.org—Features Janet I. Buck, Poetry Magazine.Com-October-Janet Buck, The Part-time Postmodernist (August 2000), San Francisco Salvo, Moongate: Janet I. Buck, Offcourse, The October Country , Cafe Society: Poetry Life & Times, Kookamonga Square, The Adirondack Review , janetbuck.com, Funky Dog Publishing—Janet Buck's Strawberry Nipples, Athens Avenue—Janet I. Buck, One World-One Heart Exhibit , Ygdrasil: Issue 9 September 2000