all the new yorkers
		------------------------------------------------------------

		all the new yorkers were nice to me

		not one new yorker was rude to me
		not a push not a shove not a horn's blare
		not a nasty/impatient stare
		a gentle older ghanese taxicab driver to world center
		a dry but direct moma gatekeeper
		always direction -- at worst: don't know nuthin here on essex
		which fares better than a helping that's confusing/misleading

		and always a bathroom
		when absolutely needed

		even the blackleathered thin skinnhead cutting soho in two
		at spring
		we -- gaggled at the light
		he -- gliding on his bike
		shouted next time i will spit on you you hiswordstrailingoff

		at a poor black dude on the street.  not at me.  not at me!
		all the new yorkers yes all my new yorkers

		were nice.  you might say -- deliriously serene.  to me.


			Marek Lugowski
			7 March 1997
			Chicago, Illinois