| "Avenue B" From top to bottom, old woman of Loisaida, east of Tompskin Sq. Park, still wearing a Puertorican bandanna on her head; still whistling tunes of Charlie Parker and the Broadway cast of "Rent"; still clapping to the congas playing on her side of the park where the rhythm is greener; still hugging children close to her breasts, the garden and the school on both sides of 6 & B; still wearing florette flip flops as the blood of Avenue A splashes onto her ankles. Do�a of Loisaida, you sit on a milk crate outside of a laundromat, as August, preparing us for Fall and Winter as we dry our brows from the height of Spring and mid-Summer. A mature Virgo reminding us to slow our youth and energize our aging selves-- to consider being in the moment, stretching our calves; to consider families releasing butterflies from your garden; to consider how at Thompskin you usher in old Latino men riding their bicycles equipped with Puertorican flags and a speaker box blasting plena; �and to see her, with beautiful wrinkles, una Mar�a, losing strength in her arms, failing to mediate tension between Avenue A and C, between a lamb and a lion; ...and to hear a daughter of Miss Liberty struggling to inhale who is still around. Harder. to exhale. who. has just. arrived. |