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an experience I had when in NYC for the ’99 Peoples PoFest, w/heartfelt wishes for this dude’s safety
In a hurry
not wanting to miss Peter’s reading
scheduled at a smoky, dim,
hung with red flags and photos of Lenin,
too-hip, Manhattan bar
I hustled down the stairs toward a waiting train
empty of people and going nowhere
its driver sniffed toward the exit,
insisted to another uniform that he smelled smoke
as I wandered down the single platform
not seeing at all how I would get to the city
in time
when there echoed in the cement tunnel
against white-tiled walls
as lonesome a yodel as ever Jimmy sang
and six NYC firemen with yellow cans of retardant on their backs
swept down the length of the platform
peering at the train
one remained at the foot of the stairs, two-way radio in hand
I asked, did you hear some yodelling?
Oh yes, he said in thick City accent,
I’m the Yodelling Fireman -- ya never heard a’ me?
They give me the radio job on these fires
’cause I can be heard through smoke or chaos
I stand here and keep everyone connected.
And that’s what he did, sending his boys
down the train flank with a sweet ululation,
calling them back with a yelp when no fire appeared.
Oh yeah, he says,
I’m a poet too.
©2001, Anne MacNaughton
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(written after the ’93 blast)
I dunno, would you
work in a place they got
10 bomb threats a day?
After class
there’s peach sky
cut by curved path
of season’s
1st swallow.
©2001, Anne MacNaughton
Anne MacNaughton is a poet and, with Peter Rabbit & Mexican Bob, organizer of the annual Taos Poetry Circus & member of the Last Living Beat Jazz Poetry recording troupe Luminous Animal. You can find her work online at Pure Taos.
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