POEM: ...a Note on President Donald J. Trump's Inauguration

From the Lower East Side, a Note on President Donald J. Trump’s Inauguration

 

 

The rust-colored

steel beams

rise

in the construction site

over
what used to be

a

nice, little Spanish

diner

here in the Lower East Side

of

Manhattan.

I sit

across the street,

looking out

from

the McDonald’s,
where I had

an

egg mcmuffin

breakfast

sandwich

with a

fresh, hot coffee.

I wish
I could have had

a
hash brown,

cooked
hot,

to
complete the breakfast

meal deal,
but the extra

dollar-and-a-half
would have been

too much
for me to spare.

I miss
the ketchup

I could have had
with it, too.

I savored
the coffee, though,

and
the few moments

of bliss
biting into the

breakfast sandwich,
as well.

Outside,
swirling about

in
the balmy, January air,

against
a grey sky,

but low
to the ground, mainly,

pigeons and sea gulls
are flying, nearby.

There
are lots

of
hungry people

sleeping,
probably,

down below
in

the subway
station,

underground.
None

have
come up

as of
yet

this morning
to

this McDonald’s.
Last night,

within
a couple of city blocks,

in
this neighborhood,

I read
that over one million

people
protested President Donald J. Trump’s

inauguration
in Washington, DC,

and protested here
in New York

and other cities
across the country.

The news
said, also, that roughly 800,000

people
turned out to celebrate

the inauguration,
to witness

the swearing-in
and the new, conservative President’s speech,

which
I heard, also,

here
in New York,

and which
was strident, and

partisan.
Here in the Lower East Side

of
Manhattan, however,

life continues
to

carry
on.

—Nicholas Patti, 1/22/2017

New York, NY