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      August 12, 2015In a Room at the Marriott MarquisMyra Shapiro

      To die
      in Times Square
      is a fact to contemplate
      since I am old and here
      on 44th Street in a vast hotel
      40 floors above the earth
       
      (only there is no earth
      visible). Concrete giants
      (having gobbled land) stand
      planted like Nature. 
       
      A slim body of water,
      a shoulder of the Hudson,
      lies west, and a ferry
      is making its way
       
      away from here
      where yolk-yellow taxis
      stream in a valley below,
      and enormous voices/bodies
      eager to be seen/heard hawk
       
      Mama Mia, Toshiba, Jersey Boys
      Buy me, look Here, no, Here, Here!
       
      where
      tucked in, aslant,
      a radiant red staircase rises
      to seat you,
      to fix you
      like a star—
       
      There is no death! Wake up!

      from #48 - Summer 2015

      Myra Shapiro

      “I was born in the Bronx but my father moved us to a little town in Georgia ‘to make a buck’ when I was ten, so I spent years longing for the City that fit me: the way I spoke (a mix of immigrant rhythms and no-nonsense directness), buildings that held me close, lit-up windows that warmed me. In 1981, I started subletting apartments and I’m still here.”