Published February 18, 2010

Around and around, inward revolutions

Inward and around, still increasing speed

To you and around, won’t you join her?

Around and around, all through the night

This night:

I saw a woman spinning

on the street corner

like a Brooklyn dervish,

holey sneakers

smoothing the concrete,

kicking up gravel

and old candy wrappers

This, the story

of her life:

ecstatic visions

born of mean streets,

now muttering mantras

One of a choir

all

unheard & unheeded—

again and again

for so long,

why expect

different this evening?

I try to listen,

I want to see

what I might learn

but quickly find

I lack the vocabulary:

palms too soft,

my shirt cuffs

are unfrayed

I have nothing to offer

but cold change

culled from couch cushions

I wouldn’t dare interrupt.