H
e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s
b e r g
N
a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i
v e s E d i t i o n
NANCY MERCADO
On Broadway
Once more on my journey down
Broadway from 107th Street
I make my usual stop in La Embajada Restaurant
for that
First shot of coffee that
transports me
To Mother’s kitchen in Ponce
The sounds of little Javier’s
rooster
Just out back saluting the sun
85-year-old Doña Monce
across the yard calling
Looking for mother’s good morning
As I make my way down Broadway
Small hardware stores and delis
Open for business bristle with
shoppers
Spanish streams from radios
Streams from hundreds of mouths
Hurrying down the streets
People go about their sacred
routines
Down Broadway
In the Silver Moon Bakery
A young French man
Kneads slabs of dough
Transforming them
Into warm inviting loaves
An olive-skinned Dominican girl
Arranges the window
Of Rona’s Dress Shop
As she might arrange
Her living room for guests
Behind the Famous Deli counter
Indian men smile revealing
Impeccably white teeth
Shimmering beyond their bronze
skin
How beautiful they are
As I make my way down Broadway
I remember the winter it snowed
36 inches
Remember the man who chose to ski
Down the frozen avenue
En route to his first meal of the
day
How I marveled at the sight of
New York
Frozen in its morning and
knew
I’d never see it this way again
I pass Lincoln Center on my way
down Broadway
See Chagall’s masterpieces wave
to me
From the Metropolitan Opera House
See Dante Alighieri standing
Amid tree canopies in the sun
See Arnando’s
Afro-Cuban band
Playing in the plaza
And dancers swirling round
The gushing fountain
And the wealthy filling
Balconies overhead
Raising their champagne glasses
Surveying the savage dancers
below
Across the street I peek
At Lincoln Plaza’s marquee
Read titles of Australian
Italian and Japanese films
Stop myself from going into
The ice cream parlor next door
Where small oval tables made of
metal
Are garnished with international
ice cream eaters
Miniature art for sale line city
sidewalks
A fortuneteller calls out for
customers
From her corner there
A book dealer peddles his
cherished works here
As crammed buses pull up
To squeeze one more person in for
the ride
Going down Broadway
I pass Trump Towers’ mammoth
Silver globe perched in the
clouds
Notice teetering cranes stories
above
Another skyscraper going up
And below subway nomads surge out
From within their cave at 59th
street
I arrive at the mouth
Of Central Park
Where bikers
Runners
Walkers
Lovers coalesce
In an experiment begun long ago
There at the fountain’s feet I
sit
There I rest and gaze in awe
Once more on my journey down
Broadway
2004
[Originally
published in NHS 2013, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/_special_edition_nhs_2013/.]