poem of the day 01.30.15

bad luck spot

one guy is drawing a flower

crushing green and yellow chalk on the pavement

watching him

we walk through a chalk sign that says

bad luck spot

we have to go back, i tell me wife

you have to walk through it backwards

why? she asks

to undo the curse, of course

she says, when did you become so superstitious?

when they found cancer

in my thirty-seven year old wife’s breast, i tell her

we stop walking

we watch as the man crushes more chalk for his flower

in the most basic sense he’s destroying something

in order to create beauty

in my way i’m trying to take a nightmare back

i didn’t believe that could happen, i continue

who in the hell knows what else i’m wrong about?

jesus? unicorns? ghosts?

compassionate conservatism?  american exceptionalism?

you really want me

to walk backwards through that? my wife says

we’ve enough bad luck for one lifetime, i say

it’s time for the tides to turn

my wife looks around

union square is packed

with the assorted mix of everyone

who make me want to move away

from new york city every day

this is stupid, she says

so is cancer, i tell her

we walk back to the spot on the pavement

some people are walking right through the bad luck spot

and others are walking around it

the guy drawing the flower takes a break

to wipe the crushed chalk from off of his hands

he’s watching everyone

i wonder if he wrote this sign too

i’m only doing this for you, my wife says

then she starts walking backward through the bad luck spot

laughing like a child with the sun behind her

and i can feel the magic working

as i stand there smiling

counting all of our old blessings

delivered by the alchemy at work

                                    06.23.14