He holds a blue walky-talky radio
"singin' you me and Julio down by the schoolyard"

he steps into the center of the
Pigeon Pecking Convention
spins in circles
stretching out his arms
to the extant
of his own wingspan.

The pigeons disperse
strutting cardinals
go drink from the aging murky puddles in the corner
and they coo while slowly gather again,
sounds like
churning rumbling stomachs
it reminds me
of my own.

As he passes through,
the guy smoking a cig on the bench over there
yells out: "Yo, Don! Come over here!"
Don does not come,
he goes
stopping only to inquire of another bench-sitter
eating from a paper bag
whether or not he likes the song
still blasting from his walky-talky.

He continues.
the smoker runs after
Don
who is on his way.

I'm on my way
I don't know where I'm goin'
but I'm on my way
takin' my time but I don't know when
I just wander
across uptown
to downtown
through downtown
I woke up in my bed today
on West 89
crossed the park to the Met
dug the surrealism
Dali Miro Duchamp
took memories of them with me on the 6 to Spring Street
walked across the dormant spring to the Ear Inn
I went in the ear
to hear
poetry
(for free).

Dug the poets,
one was the poet laureate of Queens
and a second grade teacher
he was funny when he
talked about his mother.
The next guy
who read
made things feel
so ethereal
as I sipped the complimentary icy water.

Then the reading was over
Then I wandered
I had two hours to find
The Knitting Factory
74 Leonard Street.

Asked the street vendor for directions,
but he said, "damn, bro
I ain't never even heard of Leonard Street."
Went to Broadway,
walked down to Franklin,
back over to West Broadway
up to 3rd street
back over to Broadway
back down the Spring
Where the Fuck's Leonard At!!!

I wandered through Chinatown
and out of Chinatown
aimless
til I stumbled upon Franklin Street again,
walked down Lafayette
til I came across this park here
and I said out loud to the pigeons
"I bet you know where Leonard Street is
bet you've flown above it many times."

Sure enough, I looked up past the benches
and could barely make out the green sign with my bleary eyes:
LEONARD ST

I asked a lady passing through for the time.
I had 50 minutes before the reading began
I figure dit'd be cool to
set and write a little while
then maybe get something to eat
if I had enough cash.

So maybe I'll go do that
now I'm done writing.
It'd warm my fingers up a little.