New York Poems

Currency joins New York Jazz

Currently the security profit programs is hesitant 
Sista bad ways the masters degree premonition holder has eliquented us inside of the never growing fortress of people's passed economic struggles as mimes

Yet the obstructioni zing doth not permit a permit 

Ye of vittles portion lacks the fortitude of good days in labor 

Between Camarillo livibility lengths and Newbury Park rotations as the same 

None may improvith stations whilst sista bad feelings goes into debt full idea administration worry

It was autumn 
Before the round 
Something shivered 
Tools wasn't full
Vans change, tools out strange the work 
All damseled
In respite
Shane apprehension grovel
Lost beside his print 
Finding his father's name
April,  too new city managers 
Yorks and shires bereaved
I wasn't your only father's rent
The war counted on better rays 
Rates add fits
In byes gondolas say
To write wrongs
Haven't worried sensibly
The round became my leaving board 
A pond as his mother's springs 
She sheltered little in life
Deathly burden to me
Manhattan Surrender my moons light

Taking Stock

Been to the London Stock Exchange
opened in 1571 by Elizabeth the Queen
and what's more saw the New York Big Board
the world's largest stock market ever seen
but when I took a trip to Paris
had no clue as to what to do
altho' I was educated in French
(parlez-vous?)
I believe brokers did so to discommode
as when yelling buying or selling 
they communicated in Bourse code

Up on the Top

Sat on the ferryboat, up on the top,
Soaking the sun and the breeze.
Seeing the city a different way,
Like a tourist, there’s so much to please.

Cool buildings to spot and New Yorkers about,
On foot or on bikes or on skates,
With gardens and trees, dogs on leashes, as well
As the seagulls aloft with their mates.

The palpable buzz of a sweet sunny day
As the ferry skips over the waves
Casts a magical spell on the riders, which I
Would imagine most everyone craves.

NYC Fantasy

This envisioning is so cliché
It is making my cheeks so rosé:
A lightly tanned brunette couple
Walking through alleys so unsupple...

Above their handholding and umbrellas,
In the pouring rain, walking among fellas.
Then suddenly he stops and turns to her,
Drops his umbrella and kisses ever deeper.

But it's just all a New York City fantasy,
A reality that may or may never come to be.
All I can see is he and I having coffee,
Then an electro swing song sets me free.

Indeed it is a hope and dream all so cliché,
As a hopeless romantic can't help it anyway.
Maybe he's more than someone new,
Maybe someday we'll share a few.

Vocalize New York City Park

Eyes didn't organize
The tent drop
Code violation 
Ten days an hour, so what week
Use on the monthly?
We not gonna speak
Lost voices in bravado money, can't reach
Such is that meaning why?
Answer four times a second
Birth control that

Building code violation 
All over California 
Hop
Y'all crawled hip?
Pay my rent

Between the Rivers

The Hudson River stretches wide
From Jersey to the far west side.
The east, though, is where I reside
So I don’t see it much.

It’s quite majestic, driving past
And on the highway, going fast,
I try to conjure up the past
When locals spoke in Dutch.

‘Cross town, another river flows,
Much narrower and, I suppose,
Some Germans came because that shows 
In restaurants and such.

Between the rivers, New York grew
And other cultures added to
The melting pot, which no one knew
Would suffer Ice’s clutch.

Stone or Air

Old friend, so comfortable in your chair
     (steadfast and anchored, safe in your harbor,
     hear me before deciding I am daft. 
     I fear I am no longer of this earth, 
     having become unmoored in time and space.
     No one sees me.  I am invisible,
     drifting, and awaiting another storm.   
     I will accept your judgment, ever sound. 

     I've never set foot in New York City, 
     where my great grandpa made wooden horses,
     and where my great grandson graduated
     from the Columbia Space Academy. 
     Yet can't you see the Hudson in my face,  
     and Northwest Passage in my frenzied eyes.
     Am I not Henry Hudson's wand'ring ghost?)
please tell me, is my killick stone or air?

Oddballs in New York

Oddballs in New York

The strange people who want to live
until they are 200 years old and, if possible, forever. 
Needless to say, these people are also rich
I saw the leader of the odd people, who tells us
He goes to bed at eight and rises at five
shift workers to have a similar routine, not they
wish to be a shift worker forever
The leader and his follower do not laugh as
Laughter might upset the blood and stomach
That has to be at ease at all times
Of course, they have no religion as they try to
outlive good and miracles
It is a pity that people should love and live now
Do not wait for an uncertain future

Finally

I feel like finally saying 
And yet I did not ask for it 
I even gave it up 
To this first love 
To this unforgettable love 
Finally

Let the Streets Flow with Blood

     Advocate of rent control and $30 minimum wage
     Free public transportation! Zohran Mamdani’s a media-appointed Sage

         For all illegal immigrants, full privileges and rights
         Defund the police, let NYC’s streets flow with blood every night

     O, how excited New Yorkers are about this fresh-faced progressive
     They won’t dare complain about everything there will be less of

Lunch on Third Avenue

Had lunch with a friend
And we sat in the shade
In a sidewalk arrangement
The restaurant made.

I live on the east side
And she on the west.
We meet to catch up 
At each other’s request.

The corner was busy
And traffic zipped by.
With sirens and buses,
I’m not gonna lie,

The noisiness level
Was blaring and loud,
Plus bulldozers rolled
As pedestrians cowed.

Construction just added
More rat-a-tat-tats,
With shouts from the workers
In safety-type hats.

My friend and I chatted,
Our voices both raised,
Delighted to be there,
New Yorkers unfazed.

My New York Giraffe

A giraffe went out to buy a car.
He didn't like nothin' that he saw'r.
Maybe, he'd be more comfortable
driving a convertible.

New York City Jungle

Aisha was fierce and sensuous
and belonged on Broadway
she knew what she wanted
and was bound to get her way



AP: Honorable Mention 2025

chutzpah in New York

chutzpah in new york
cheeky annoying brashness
nervy confidence

Just Think of It

I only ride the subway
To a doctor or a show.
When teaching, that was not the way
To work I used to go.

Today, though, in the morning rush
I had to take a train
And I expected all the usuals
That make the trip a pain – 

Delays and crowds and people whom
You wouldn’t want to meet
And cars so packed that naturally,
You’d never get a seat.

Instead, there was a transit worker
In a neon vest
Who smiled and shouted, “Welcome, people!”
Like she was possessed.

She clapped her hands and greeted all
With such a joyous mien
That commuters sported grins
Where mostly scowls are likely seen.

Just think of it – one person can
Spread happiness around
With just an upbeat attitude,
A lesson quite profound.

• Short New York Poems
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• New York Quotes

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