Going to Work
On their daily trips
commuters shed tears now
use American flags
like veiled women
to hide their sorrows
rush to buy throwaway cameras
to capture your twin ghosts
frantically I too
purchase your memory
on postcards & coffee mugs
in New York City souvenir shops
afraid I’ll forget your façade
forget my hallowed Sunday
morning path train rides
my subway travels through
the center of your belly
afraid I’ll forget your power
to transform helicopters
into ladybugs gliding in the air
to turn New York City
into a breathing map
to display the curvature
of our world.
Used with the permission of the author.
Nancy Mercado
Poet, editor, and activist Nancy Mercado received her BA from Rutgers University, an MA from New York University, and a PhD in English literature from SUNY Binghamton. She is the author of the poetry collection It Concerns the Madness (Long Shot Productions, 2000) and the editor of the first anthology dedicated to Nuyorican women writers, originally published online in two volumes by Hunter College. She has also written and directed seven plays.