i might sleep at the Chelsea or maybe St. Marks
there’s a drop-in at Main Chance* or one of the parks
where perhaps with the pigeons and the dogs and the barks
i could lie in a dream where a frisbee embarks
from her hand on a Thursday in a funnel of sparks
and torpedoes my sketchbook as i try the Ozarks
she returns to our blanket with rueful remarks
but i’m tracking her neck and the bend that it arcs
all the shards of her pupils, the lights and the darks
how her lips come together like little landmarks
she says all my mountains are possibly sharks
when she points at my drawing, “Or angry aardvarks?”
i’ll be dozing in laughter while her finger demarks
Words by Rick Stachura. “A Thursday in the Park with Joy.” July 2010.
Photo by Rick Stachura. The stage at Kings Theatre. October 27, 2018.
*”Main Chance” is a homeless shelter for men on 32nd Street in Murray Hill.