Where empty sidewalks
outnumber one way streets
you can dart across
in less than a tenth

of a New York
minute. Where no one
gives you false hope
of seeing Lombardo’s Adam

reassembled. Where
airport bathroom stalls
still have their locks
and toilet paper dispensers filled.

And the cat launches
a hunger strike
to teach you a lesson
for abandoning him

for a hundred (cat not dog)
years. And the Mississippi
isn’t a myth. Where you exhale,
slow down, unpack

your thoughts and feelings
onto the floor. And you remember
how the definition of home
floats in freshwater too.