New York Impressions

Tonight I celebrate myself

And the music latching to my walls

Like perfume latches to skin

I celebrate the blades of grass

Smooth as baby hair

Gracing naked feet

The droplets on leaves

Round and translucent

Glistening like gems

Tossed, misplaced or forgotten  

I celebrate the workers at cafes

And the conversations that surface

Unprecedented stored and released

For brief encounters

Made immortal

I celebrate the common names

Of unique people

And the faces now printed

In the folio of the mind

Like instants captured in photographs

The words spun from tongues

The texture of rough hands

On handshakes

Like sandpaper

I celebrate the laughs

And the movements of bodies

The walkers beside me

The accidental shoving of shoulders

On the subway

The spiteful looks of tired eyes

I celebrate the city and its colors

The city and its smell of

Barbequed sausage on summer days

The sour scent of sweat

From glistening black faces 

And flustered white cheeks

The chachacha of bachatas

On particular neighborhoods

The bum bum bum of hip hop

On particular streets

I celebrate