THE BIG APPLE BITES

The big apple bites

Walt Whitman 

as he returns with a rose

from a rodeo

Lorca is made mad

in Manhattan's snow

Nathaniel West

escapes from Los Angeles

coughs and freezes

on the fire escape

as this night robs Man Ray

of lipstick for his last photo

as seven Hockney posters

go up in Harlem heaven
with Langston Hughes
reading as sons

and daughters wept by 

by Virgil Thompson's notes
from a comic in his schtick
at a club where music rocks
and murders French rolls
on an unorthodox bench
down at the waterfront docks
of thunder,grass, and dance
whiplash sustains the new rain
everything is neon green
sea lilac, indigo cobalt blue
away from Tiresias playing
a blind jazz tune
in riffs called "Oedipus"
as the headlines fizz
outside there are few brides
in Babylon
art still hangs out
its still life's
in black and white
sailing out to Ellis Island
newly vaccinated is offspring
of its citizens
outside windows
hearing chants
in lip sync blues
a Hart Crane appears
with Kenneth Patchen
over the Brooklyn Bridge
in a familiar pattern
on the welcome doors
of Manhattan.