My new white sandals
Payless
Bring blisters
Irritating my feet
I have no band-aids and
I can't eat
Spiraling into a state
Sugar would solve
Simply
But I can't save myself
Smiling for snapshots
The backdrop
One of those gray, drizzling days
All a fade anyway
We're experiencing delays
My day is still a year away
Showing off diplomas
Returning caps and gowns
Hand me downs
Recycled next to
My class
2004
Graduates go off to be
Wined and dined by proud parents
I make my way to the subway
Feeling my face
Crumbling
Tears plead like prisoners for release
I stand at Columbus Circle
where the N or W could take me
to a past
revisionist history has nearly obliterated
The 1 or 9 run local to the present
West 112th
Where tourists riding red double deckers
capture St. John the Divine with digital cameras
and gawk at the Seinfeld diner
As if any moment Kramer will emerge
I stare at my Metro Card
Indecisive
Barely breathing
Where are you from?
An innocuous question
Posed fairly often
In casual conversation
It sends me into a frenzy
I have never known consistency only
Card board boxes and duct tape
Chopped down cherry trees and
Spilled paint
Suitcases and photo frames
China plates
Bubble wrap didn't save
As I pull my keys from my purse
I know
My home has never been my own
