Hugh Seidman

SEASONAL

February

Jet glint over Newark,
false-spring twilight.

Cops kick a man in the cold
as we pay for bread.

Unborn shadows want light.
Unfed cat: me now, me now.


August

Three subway Peruvians:
pipe, strum, drum.

We clap and drop tribute—
till muffled by the express.

A man supplicates for change.
On or off—open-and-shut.


November

Black pearls, white pearls.
Winston's gold jubilee

at Met’s oils and marbles.
Jet-blue-haired, red-faced

Chief Red Jacket glares
on the Stanhope matches.


New Years

Nomad starves, cripple hobbles,
celebrity yields charity.

Good leg limps?
Full stomach hungers?

Electric apple falls.
Broadway fireworks stutter.

--From 12 VIEWS OF FREETOWN,
   1 VIEW OF BUMBUNA