ON SEVENTH AVENUE

On Seventh Avenue I saw
One of Stevie Smith's tall
And spiky angels. It was
Something over eight feet tall
And narrow as a sword.
No one else seemed to notice
When it brushed aside traffic lights
Or casually plucked a soul
From an aged lawyer hasting
To the First Department knowing
His case was lost already.

ON SEVENTH

Whether he will or no, miracles happen

In the vicinity of saints and so with Jerome.

The patches on his clothes wait until he sleeps

And sew themselves more firmly in place.

Dogs, meaning to attack him, find themselves

Apologizing in passable Latin and slinking off

Bewildered. (Long afterwards they’ll wake

Growling “Cave! Canis malum!”) Some nights

A cop who died in 1947 swings down the Avenue

Leaving a dime and half a cheese sandwich

Beside each homeless sleeper. 

RUNNING INTO ST. JEROME

More often than not when I’m on 7^th Avenue

I see St. Jerome. There’s no mistaking him

He still looks very like the portrait

El Greco made in 1610 though his beard

Is a bit shorter and he no longer wears

The red robes of a cardinal.

                             When I first lived in the City

It was Woody Allen I saw. We weren’t friends

Or even acquaintances but somehow, every week or two,

He'd be walking ahead of me or waiting at a light.

The woman I married once sat behind him at a movie.

Times change. I haven’t seen Woody Allen in years;

Now I see a dejected saint, sitting in doorways.

On impulse, I approached him yesterday – a cold day

And the sky without color as it gets sometime in winter –

“The Vulgate!” I said, feeling a little foolish, “What a book!

Even Wikipedia, while denying it has much textual authority,

Admits it has great literary value.” He shook his head,

Not meeting my eyes.

                                      A few blocks away

Around 23^rd, his lion caught up with me. “Forgive him

He rarely speaks. Thank you for your words. If ever

You have need of a small miracle – especially one

Involving translations, skulls or trumpets –

You will generally find us on 7^th Avenue;

It is cold north of 40^th Street; seek us below.”