for Mark & Johanna

I need a glass of water
I am a stranger to New York
The other day this guy talked to me sweet
and my skin seems kind of dry

The first morning a cardinal woke me
The second evening dogs kept me up
Days are soured by saws, pneumatic drills,
a woman excited by a woodpecker in the park

She was nice, that woman
strangely chatty like Americans can be
There he is, she said, There he is.
Her head was tilted, her back bent


The trip has been a pleasure
I don't know what I'm doing here
It's raining
there are sounds of thunder
but too regular
coming from inside
there's a ping ping ping on the air conditioner
I hear it's muggy in the heat

By myself in a friend's apartment
in New York with days to go
I choose a couch that could be nowhere
dare to write the word "alone"
months later cut it in a close Toronto spring
mostly thanks to you

copyright © Judy MacDonald 2001
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Monk
by Judy MacDonald
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