Motivation: Brooklyn is a matrix of blocks
for example, on Church the cars roll slowly, and honk
to pick up rides off the street. Everyone knows a way
to get around, squeeze between. In a Hilbert space
the dimensions can be infinite. So where are you?
From Empire Ave to Eastern Parkway the hill rises
and the Messiah’s face is everywhere. The problem
is trivially solved in spacetime. But every corner
is different from the day before. In the old truck lot
piledrivers are pounding in another tower beam.
The pierogi place is a weed store. Everyone knows
a way to a place they saw five years ago, or twenty.
It’s still there, and all gone. I’ve seen people stay
right where they are and end up in a different city.
Jim Stewart has been published or has poems forthcoming in In Company, New Mexico Poets after 1970, Liminality, Rattapallax, Passengers Journal, and the Moonstone Arts Center’s Ekphrastic Poetry anthology. He co-edited and designed Saint Elizabeth Street magazine and hinenimagazine.com. He teaches programming and logic in New York.
Please note: Poetry is compressed to fit smart phone screens. If you are reading this poem on a phone screen, please turn your screen sideways to make sure that you are seeing correct line breaks for this poem.
THE CITY KEY 