The poem started in Providence
where something begun in my head
but continuous then I could imagine.

While I was walking
around clean streets,

white for no hesitant light withdrew.
It was all right
then and now.

I want to be there in Providence,
to bring all of the forethought:

The earnest versus the habitual.
The scholar versus the drama student.
The poet versus the poet.
The love versus the erector set.
The drowning versus the disappearance.

Now back in the city and the air is three-dimensional.
Logically New York City
is both the future and the past.

I want to be a poet all of the time.

It's quiet enough for me to hear a siren's full call
And drunk laughing people not in the least bit cruel.