Death and the City

Yesterday’s newspaper becomes last week’s
Newspapers spread out like a hand-held fan
In front of the face of the apartment
Door. A dog does the Argos-thing inside,
Waiting beside O as though his body
Is but an Ithaca waiting the soul’s
Return. Neil the Super will soon come up
With the key but only in time to find
Doreen, the on-the-down-low-friend-with-perks,
There already, kneeling between the two,
Stroking the hair of both O and the dog,
Wondering who had been walking the dog.

Credit

Copyright © 2015 by Rowan Ricardo Phillips. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 28, 2015, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“Proximity and indifference are the two sides of the murky coin that is city life. And whether it feels precious or cheap (may it always feel the former), life always holds itself up to the mind’s glare. Sometimes I want to look away, but I never look away.”
Rowan Ricardo Phillips