I Count the Bricks in Buildings

I Count the Bricks in Buildings
In the city, I see battered buses running and the hot dog man praying in the wind, I see businessmen starved for sun, I see sales clerks, window-washers, cab drivers, waitresses, and cooks, I see April blossoms fading and green leaves growing, I see weeds sprouting and watered by the rain, I see black streets kissed by fumes and shimmering with kaleidoscopes of oil, I see church spires, furnaces, and white steam rising, I count the bricks in buildings and linger in the alleys, I open my hands and feel hope cooling in my palms, I inhale the smell of fresh-baked bread, of coffee brewing and cigarettes, I take shelter in women�s sad perfume and pity their feet in worn-out shoes, I wonder at their fingertips and lips and missing smiles as they slowly pass me by, I see poor men begging while crows feast joyfully on crumbs, I see anxious shopkeepers sweeping with their brooms, betrayed by dust and taxes coming due, I see women and men smiling in tavern windows, I see boys with guitars, girls on errands, street-side clocks and canvas awnings, I see old names showing through faded paint, metal fans in upstairs windows, abandoned doorways, the ascending steps of narrow dirty stairs, ribbons, flowers, signs, and banners, I see them all and one by one, bring them home and lay them on my table, the sticks and rocks and bones, the unfinished stories and poems I see, the whimpering child and whining dog, the fallen tree I see and squirrels in the park, the gray pigeons nodding on the ledge, the cakes in windows, clothes, and conversation, the icy glasses sitting in puddles of foam, the anger, unfairness, and truth I see, and in the quiet listen to them speak, first to one another and then solemnly to me, about street lamps flickering at dusk, about broken glass, rain-soaked shoes, and dead men�s names melting in the gutter, and the pride and courage in the street I see, as the lights turn green and the restless people push away from shore. *May 4, 2005* Previous Entry Next Entry Return to Songs and Letters About the Author	Also by William Michaelian POETRY Winter Poems ISBN: 978-0-9796599-0-4 52 pages. Paper. �� Another Song I Know ISBN: 978-0-9796599-1-1 80 pages. Paper. �� Cosmopsis Books San Francisco Signed copies available Main Page Author�s Note Background Notebook A Listening Thing Among the Living No Time to Cut My Hair One Hand Clapping Songs and Letters Collected Poems Early Short Stories Armenian Translations Cosmopsis Print Editions Interviews News and Reviews Highly Recommended Let�s Eat Favorite Books & Authors Useless Information Conversation E-mail & Parting Thoughts Flippantly Answered Questions
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