Caught in traffic
Lennox Avenue & 125Th Street, I think,
inching behind a delivery truck, amid a
yellow sea of medallions; occupied or empty.
Then finally complete stop.
Vendor piles, jeans, designer pillows,
art on black velvet, statues of Jesus;
and a stroll of Sunlight on the sidewalk.
Crowds, three card Monty;
everything just parted, like the Red Sea
unto a ray of brightness from the skies.
Inspired Nature blessed her skin, coffee and cream;
dark eyes defied layers of mascara
stopping sidewalk traffic with glances.
One landed on me,
my stone still face and eyes, maybe comic,
dark hair adorned her smile;
dessert before dinner, brown sugar lips,
and I reached for handle, taxi door and wallet-
with hope in my focused thoughts-
a sudden falling backward into the seat
roaring off, like an A Train,
leaving the street and the walking Sunshine
bringing a lump in my throat,
an awful feeling, Harlem hesitation.
A contest entry
- approximately 10 minutes again by Cat.
400 points, ended July 17, 2007, 5 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 7 of 7
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Captivating
Love this one! Great imagery! Harlem at its best ... bustling, alive with character and beauty. And I remember the taxis, being pinned to the seat by the force of taking off at 60 mph
He who hesitates indeed loses the "walking Sunshine" in NYC!
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Good write
I have never been to harlem but have read articles about it. Every town and city have their harlems for the sinple reason we have never learned how to share . To help those unfortunate and havent had the means to progress yet if each of us shared our knowledge what a world it would be
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Well done on your Silver. A good write with excellent pace and appropriate line breaks, good flow. Thanks for sharing. La x
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I can remember getting lost in Manhattan once - wound up starting in the middle of Harlem in worked my way back into the city. The images are still pretty vivid... I could picture every moment of this as you've written it here.
tremendous writing again, as always PK...
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what a great write. You did an amazing job. i love the way you reflect on personal memories to use in this poem. It is such a great personal poem.
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I agree with MC, it is reminiscent of your early stuff and I really enjoyed this, the snapshot of memories you hold, it feels so very real and personal. Love, C
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this piece feels a bit like some of your work when i first began reading you.. very , very nice.. m
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