North (walking)

endless walking
father and son
back and forth
boulevard bound
on lazy sundays

spaghetti factory
cracks in the concrete
twigs on the pavement
splits in the sidewalk
and thin stick weapons

branches into whips
chewed up pop sticks
inspection of the ants
jet-winged arms
over tiny loose pebbles

lightning bug shrubs
cat’s eye marbles
snakes that smoke
and crayon melted
bottle caps

East (sitting)

I shall remain in one place
at a rear bedroom window frosting.
I will be a surveyor not a voyeur,
functioning as part of the routine backdrop
gazing at the humdrum rusting infrastructure.
though my eyes will travel cross state and county lines,
I'll appear to others as never moving.
the direction will be east, never changing and colder.

somewhere outdoors
there stands a warm statue
with an instrument in its' arms and a magnet securely hidden within.
the power of this figure is inducive and unyielding.
tranmitting through thick honey and acoustic voice,
its' energy never falters and is felt in cities throughout the world.

South (riding)

I rarely ride the subway rails
but on this day my eyes caught the flick
and trajectory of a butt into a gutter
from an undefined, cigarette smoking, sneaker-clad man
wearing an extremely rumpled casually loose suit
distinctively declaring he had nothing much to do
instinctively I descended the path of  worn out broken stairs
following his daily grind and deadpan idle shuffle
we paid our separate fares and went our separate ways
directly facing each other across an empty subterrane
a muttering cascade of numbers, ones and zeros
suddenly horn blasting trains barreled into the station
obscuring the man's hollow schedule and seemingly frustration
taking him in one direction and me to some other destination
bringing to a culmination this thirty second dull platform drama

West (driving)

heading west I drove into a sunset that I never saw
caught by this surprise which nearly blinded me
immediately turned right and away from it

now protected by the light of the north
in a instant realizing I must witness it again
came around the block but it was gone forever.