Lower East Side, Late Summer Saturday Night

Turned onto 3rd Street
from Avenue B, which was
barely bustling at 10 PM,
walked into the club to play an early show —
came out again at midnight
and the streets were packed,
every person in the world
out on the Lower East Side,
my ears and eyes and nostrils flared
to pull it into me,
every shop open,
every bar filled,
garbage perfume underlying
the lily scent at the flower stand,
merengue blaring from a gated alley,
a column of white balloons swaying gently
in the courtyard beyond;
short skirts, long legs,
shirt tails out and two days’ growth
on every corner,
everyone seeking paths through and around each other:
the Lower East Side alive with the sound
of the turning, the churning, the shirring of wheels
as the machine that is New York City
remakes, re-imagines, revives,
and nowhere louder than in this place
that has always been
the source of beginnings,
a beehive full of promise,
sweet buzz,
and sting.