View of 116th and 2nd Avenue from the Bus on the Last Day of School

by Amy Soricelli

 
The streets are Mexican stone and red flowers
painted on bricks. The slippery wheels of the
food-cart balance the homeless man who shuffles
his steps in broken shoes. 
He's waiting for the crowd to clear so the lady with
the rough hands can make a plate for him.
The children on the edges dance in circles with
the last day of school fresh on their lips.
Abandoned books and their uniform pants cuffed
to the knees.
Gray clouds cover the group in a thin layer of 
worn down Wednesday, and families knee deep
in pastelitos gather napkins and count change. 
It's just another afternoon on this corner 
of remember when; the old men talk in small clips, 
the young girls yell into their phones.
The food-cart lady finishes with the crowd and 
offers a plate and a cold drink.
It's all he can do with this kindness;  
his small nod and the sign of the cross.


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Amy Soricelli has been published in numerous publications and anthologies including Remington Review, The Westchester Review, Deadbeats, Long Island Quarterly, Literati Magazine, The Muddy River Poetry Review, Pure Slush, Cider Press Review, Glimpse Poetry Magazine, and many others. That Plane is not a Star, 4/2024, Dancing Girl Press; Carmen has No Umbrella but Went for Cigarettes Anyway, Dancing Girl Press 9/2021; Sail Me Away, Dancing Girl Press, 10/2019. Nominations: Pushcart Prize, 2021, Best of the Net 2020, 2013. Nominated by Billy Collins for Aspen Words Emerging Writer's Fellowship/2019, Grace C. Croff Poetry Award, Herbert H Lehman College, 1975