SIDEWALKS
arlene s bice
What reader can breeze past a shop with a table
full of books for sale sitting on the sidewalk
or the paintings spread out on a tablecloth of an
entrepreneur artist in Washington Square
see the man selling crisp apples at lunchtime in
Manhattan, he’s next to the guy playing the sax
bringing music to those too busy, dropping coins in
the open, blue velvet-lined case, a bit of appreciation
further down the walk is the fast-talker selling watches
sporting all kinds of fancy bands at really cheap prices
a bargain for the tourist looking up at the skyscrapers
in wonder, his feet firmly planted on the sidewalk
saunter along at an easy pace to the carefully crafted,
handmade jewelry of an artist paying her way through
school, her facial expression cries out to you “at least
buy just one thing,” encourage her to continue her talent
listen as you move down the sidewalk to languages strange
to your ears, babble on, being understood by another
sidewalks are for living outside, for connecting to people
you’ve never seen before and probably will never see again
travel south to historical Moore Square with its annual
Raleigh Arts Festival, Artsplosure, Sidewalk Painting
Sand Castle Contests, Farmers’ Markets, all alive and well
where people meet and eat, from vendors on the sidewalk
sidewalks are city landscapes, the variety of fauna being
humans, wandering the terrain rather than forest denizens
allowing the concrete squares to lead them to new places
as animals use dirt pathways to make their way thru a wood
ABOUT CRYING OR NOT
A NONSENSE POEM
arlene s bice
For all the years I did not cry
showing the world my bye & bye
and then time passed me a loaf of rye
and I began to cry—I had no mustard
so my rainy days with rivers high
I recognized the need for us to cry
not a whole river wide
as the Julie London song abides
but enough to get the sigh
out of your system
think about flying in the sky
dropping tears to water the crops on high
ground where they will flow and dry
in the meantime the plants will survive
