Plague on Broadway 

Plague on Broadway 

What happened today?
I can’t even remember
We walked to the river and talked
About fenders —
And strolling down Broadway
Resplendent and empty on
This plague day afternoon
Bright, clear
Sunlight slanting through the train-
Track trestle above
Illuminating crash gates, masks
The masquerade — we learned
It’s short for defender — the fender
As tulips, being flowers, flowered
And radios broadcasted lyres and choirs
Informed us that the bright spots ahead
are wild fires
And then, on Division,
Examined the tires of bicycles, to see
The library branch —
Where once Mel Brooks did homework
With a pencil that’s
As lost to time as kingdoms like Podolia
Where people,
Generations, lived
All thinking it was real —
Is locked like a box
Because of the virus
Because of it each theater
on Broadway’s shut
Investors fled
But who needs them?
Nobody needs a landlord
Just some plumbers, electricians,
As the radio transmitted talk
Of a new way of living
Of the new free university of Earth
You can hear it, just now,
They’re announcing its birth

 

Elliot Sperber is a writer, attorney, and adjunct professor. He lives in New York City and can be reached at elliot.sperber@gmail.com and on twitter @elliot_sperber