in this latest dream
I walk through a railroad apartment

space plays a cameo
I rent never buy

scour the no fee apartment listings
in the Village Voice on Tuesdays

never lived in Brooklyn
or Staten Island

I know someone who has lived
in all five

never celebrated a birthday in Queens
there was that nasty heatwave in 1988

living so close to LaGuardia
had no perks

never give up believing in the Bronx
step streets and graffiti and

a Riverdale Diner breakfast
hangover cure and all those books

I read on the 1 train
one hour each way

Manhattan is for marathons
and making that decision to leave

the one I will forever question
to the brink of regret

till I always remember
it’s better this way

longing is sweet
the Voice long gone