In the City

In the city I skateboard alone
............................................. at night
............................................................ in the street

through shattered glass and the bones of dead animals,
past graffiti gangs burning garbage in steel drums
and I feel the chill of bodies
....................................... hanging
in bottles of formaldehyde.

In the city I ollie over bums
sleeping on the floors of Penn. Station
barge past the insanity of Times Square
hooker junky bag lady fag
motion being my only sanctuary.

In the city I run to the nose of my board, hang ten & tuck
and in homage to the ancient Hawaiians
knock over a row of garbage cans
like the lip of some rickety wave
echoes shadows silence...
homeless streetwalker babble.

The city rumbles beneath my skate
like the wheels of so many subway trains,
with vibrations that carry up through my legs,
and remain like magic,
long after I have gotten off my board.

by TJ Richter

© April 25, 1987 Theodore J. Richter