New York is a ghost-town
No, it isn’t
It’s boarded-up
No, it isn’t
Everything is closed
No, it isn’t
Residents are leaving
Well, just some.
Back and forth
Telling me, a New Yorker:
New York is no more.
I post photos
Look, New York is back
Arisen from coma
Revived, recovered
Reinvigorated, re-invented
A new New York.
The streets, streets no more
Move over cars and trucks,
Lanes for outdoor dining
Canopies and tents
Strings of lights
Candles flickering
Wannabe couples dating
Trying hard to impress
Flashing a new dress
Stem-ware clinking
A gentle laughter.
Waiters masked, rushing
Snaking around pedestrians
Hopping back from a biker
Balancing steaming Thai soup
Socially distanced
Plexi-glass partitions
Feeling safe
Paris, eat your heart out.
See how festive is New York
Streetlights galore
Dining turned inside out
Watch this video
Mariachi sidewalk band
Couples dancing
Pedestrians clapping
Yours truly swaying
Masked? For sure
Socially distanced? Of course
Having a party
On the town
It’s New York, New York.
Oh, but it’s Upper East Side
You live in a bubble
Parks are deserted
A stroll in Central Park
Bicyclists, joggers, dog walkers
Toddlers playing ball with dad
Mommy reading to her little doll
Teacher leading Yoga class
A woman spreads her mat
Peels off her clothes
Stop! Keep the underwear, please
Grass is the new sand
Cops clickety-clock on horses to die for
A stranger at Suffragette statue
Offers an impromptu history lesson
Susan, Sojourner & Elizabeth strategizing
A bride poses on the stairs
Overlooking the Conservatory
Flowers smiling, roses blushing.
That’s Fifth Avenue
The other Manhattan,
Is not the same.
Only one way to
Find out for myself
Labor Day, Monday
Q train to Times Square
It’s 10:00 am
Businesses open
People out and about
No tourists, no cameras
No posing with overdressed Minnie
Or nearly naked ladies
Just city residents
Reclaiming their town
Sipping coffee
Reading New York daily
Chuckling while podcasting
Times Square, catching its breath.
Walk to Bryant Park
Not packed
But every umbrella taken
Meet up with friends
Grab a four-top
By the sprinkling fountain
Waiting in line for croissant and coffee
Socially distanced, masked
Traffic picks up
Only 11 am this holiday weekend.
Oh, but that’s Mid-Town,
Downtown is deserted
Walk to Curry Hill
On Lex and 28th
Nothing boarded up
All open
Looking for Kalustyan?
Follow the whiff of ground cumin.
Mannequins in sarees
Early lunch at Lahori Kebab?
This hole in the wall
Transformed into sidewalk dining
Urdu and Punjabi chatter
Every seat taken
Settle for take-out.
But that was holiday weekend
Weekdays are stand-still
Tuesday after Labor Day
Sounds just like the-day-after
Horns honking, trucks barreling
Get-out-of-my-way! horns
MOVE! sirens
Bicyclists wheeling down lanes
Rushing to get to work
Work they need
Work they had lost
Getting to WORK.
I watch from my balcony
Relishing the screeching noise
Never mind polluting exhaust
The jay-riding cyclists
The creeping crawling traffic
This is my New York
Welcome Back!
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