poem of the day 12.18.12

religious furor

we seek refuge in union square

seek quiet away from the tourists

who are stopping every block

to get a picture of some manhattan landmark

that’ll probably be under water in fifty years’ time

some sanity away from the thongs

of frat boys and sorority girls dressed

as santa claus and elves

doing a pub crawl

puking stale beer on each other before sundown

ah, new york city at christmas

there are at least a dozen places that i’d rather be

but eating falafel here with my wife is okay too

….until he shows up

we could see him making his way down the line of people

stopping to give his pitch

pushing paper at some poor bastards

seeking the same solace as we

getting closer by the moment

the brave ones wave him away

the other give in and open their wallets

before he hands them one of his fliers

when he gets to us

my wife says no before he can even speak

it could be construed as rude

but unless you live here

you have no right to judge

still, it sets him off

i’m tired of hearing no, he says

that whole other goddamned side of benches told me no

and i’m tired of people bothering me

while i’m eating, my wife say

i ain’t trying to stop you from eating, he says

i just want to give you something to read

we don’t want to read what you got, i tell him

he stares us down

we stare him back

he says i want to tell you about jesus

my wife and i say we don’t care in unison

i tell him that we’re tired of jesus

he says, good, stay down here, you motherfuckers

because heaven don’t want you anyway

then he walks away

another one of god’s angry, rejected messengers

as more tourists lollygag by

getting pictures of the empire state building

peeking over the buildings

as groups of drunken frat boy santas yell

at groups of drunken sorority mrs. claus

shouting “hoes, hoes, hoes,” into the drooping saturday sun

and another poor evergreen

gets dragged through these garbage-laden streets

like a war criminal

prepared to sacrifice itself to bright lights and tinsel

dying ever so slowly

for this festive yuletide season