Broadway 

The last taxi cab on earth 
glides past without any help 
& breathes 
through crystal sac 

Air in flukes or  
upside down water 
in a glass

Where we come from 

Sliding paper doors reveal repeating mountains clouding against the western sky 

Busses are re-routed 
using a feedback loop that also effects 
the real ferns & rain 

I was loved & looked out the window through rain and kids
	 
Orange roe  
connected by telephone & span 
picks up passengers for free
& drops them downtown 

Mica in coral 

A replacement shoal parked along the curb
Credit

Copyright © 2019 by Michael Dickman. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on April 17, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“‘Broadway’ is a poem in part about the Broadway bridge in Portland, Oregon, where I grew up. A bridge I've driven and walked over hundreds of times it is, in fact, a Rall-type bascule bridge, the longest of its type, and spans the Willamette river. The poem converges language about the bridge, traffic, marine life, classic Japanese prints, childhood, and coast lines, as if seen through a light, or heavy rain, depending on who you are.”
—Michael Dickman