sketching manhattan

two tar-coated fingers dragged down

upper west side: see denizens snapping

their gum in traffic lanes, pressed

against parchment + soaking up

charcoal pigments in my inkwell.

a forlorn woman on fifth avenue stamps

her acrylic nail into a wax seal + a boy

with a balloon, an astronaut with a

latex planet twined around his wrist:

he stares at something in the gutter

that piques his interest + mine as well.