Despite
Barbara Henning
Despite the steady
discharge of treated
sewage water into
the Hudson, currently
for human contact.
Smoking is something
else one does now,
in some places
on the sly, the butt
cupped inside one's hand,
but not in the East Village.
Here smokers
clutter the edges
of the sidewalks.
Through a tunnel of
while thousands
line up elsewhere,
waiting for bread or
deportation deferrals.
~~~~~
Barbara Henning is the author of three novels and nine collections of poetry. Her most recent books of poetry are A Swift Passage (Quale Press), Cities and Memory (Chax Press) and a collection of object-sonnets, My Autobiography (United Artists). A Day Like Today is forthcoming from Negative Capability Press. She lives in New York City and teaches for Naropa and Long Island University.