new york, madame,
is a monument to a city
it is
TA-DA
a gigantic pike
whose scales
bristled up stunned
and what used to be just smoke
found a fire that gave it birth
champagne foam
melted into metal
glass rivers
flowing upwards
and things you won't tell to a priest
you reveal to a cabdriver
even time is sold out
when to the public's "wow" and "shhh"
out of a black top hat
a tailed magician
is pulling new york out
by the ears of skyscrapers
- vakzhyna mort (translated by franz wright and elizabeth oehlkers wright)
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photos © anita aguilar
