And They’re Running
running in their Reeboks their Asics their Saucony’s running
… with their iPods MP3s and Blackberries their cell phone plan
… with unlimited minutes and playlists longer than the 10,000 things
… inscribed in the Tao Te Ching
they’re running in spandex breathable cotton tank tops golf hats
… bare-backed bare-chested some with tattoos the width of murals
… some with dogs—dogs ahead behind beside the pure bred
… pedigreed Border Collie Bichon Frise Labradoodle Whippet
… Standard Poodle groomed like labyrinthine shrubbery
they’re running for their lives to look better in the boardroom bedroom
… on the dance floor in the mirror gasping sweating grunting
… as if one could make exhausted love with oneself
they’re running with their newborns their infants toddlers half-
… legal adoptees from China Ethiopia Belarus Honduras
… their in vitro twins saddled in designer strollers
they’re running one assumes away from death away along the river
… while others chose to march and pray to sit and sing refuse
… to move in Zuccotti Park in the freedom to be still and gather
they’re running through daylight savings time time saving saving
… time a belief in amassing the disappearing hours
… collectible as postage stamps Nikes snow globes sea glass
… while others run towards God pedometers wrapping biceps like tefillin
No one seems to notice the anomalous walker immobile because
… he’s exhausted afraid of failing falling out of breath breathless
… while the sun sprays shattered gold across the Hudson
For anyone bothering to look at all closely would’ve known
… he’d fallen that something fractured tore or broke within him
but they’re running running running running and the only others pausing
… seek to lessen the lactic acid build-up to stretch and stretch out
… pressing palms against a wall or railing as if suddenly apprehended
….for a nameless crime patted down and frisked by un-seeable detectives.
by Peter Marcus
from Tribute to New Yorkers
Rattle #48, Summer 2015