Blizzard, Oh Six

She’s got snow dreads, bangs dangling like melted comb teeth
A disastrous combination: one with passivity and one without plans
A woman slips on the hidden decline from the sidewalk, with a shriek
Touches the street with her leather gloved hand
Her petticoat man wrapped in scarves and mittens kneels
Eye-level and looks to see
If she is okay.
She is okay. We are all “okay”.

Us two, we too are okay. We made it this far, Bleeker and 3rd
Lost in this swirling, snowy world- signs hide behind
thick white sheets of powder
We didn't check the other side
And thus, got lost on the Lower East side
What once was a square-grid of city streets was
now a full circle, circumferentially scanned by us

Upon arrival, long-hairs and hunched pocket boys
line the Mercury Lounge pane of glass
lionizing Dax Riggs and Tessie Brunet
a guy with a stolen grocery basket, rides
alongside the line
crying "Sold Out, too late, let's go"
Our shoulders hump, hands slip into our pockets in
complete depletion
Turn solemnly, newfound hollowness, cold
and search for Indian for Samosas

Across the street a microwave heated curry
with chicken bones and mango juice
soothes our chilly skin
The woman pounds out a fresh nan
too late to eat with our food
so we take it to go
to distract our heads from the wet snow

Hop a train, think of lines to take to not walk from Jay
The J, to Canal then transfer to Q, we'll wait
but underground away from slush
Steph touches her head against the tile wall
and seems to think it's warmer than the air
Her surrogate fireplace

Canal was up, not down and we're crossing a bridge
and crossing our thoughts and crossing our eyes
and lost
Bridge to Brooklyn, but wrong about both
Williamsburg bridge to Marcy Ave
Our souls are cold, our minds are numb
Whatever happened next was zombie but fun

A night that didn't end
because it never began
A trip to go see Deadboy & the Elephantmen