NY, NY 2020

Aaron Poochigian
Published on April 18, 2024
It’s fitting now to grieve
over a loss of vigor,
common to pack up and leave
for bleached suburbs and bigger
skies, for a clean elsewhere.
But, studying from above
rats in a desolate square,
I still can only love
this town—though she’s a hooker
who favors men of wealth.
I’m staying because I took her
in sickness and in health.
 
But is she even alive?
Gone are the buskers and cluttered
bazaars, and my favorite dive
in Hell’s Kitchen is shuttered.
There’s no more sipping wine
at Zinc to the joy of the Blues.
Abandoned mattresses line
the echoing avenues.
J. Crew, Modell’s, goodbye,
and, goodbye, Neiman Marcus.
I’m staying until I die,
a lover over a carcass.
 
Genre: 
Poetry
Author Bio: 

Aaron Poochigian earned a PhD in Classics from the University of Minnesota and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University. His latest poetry collection, American Divine, the winner of the Richard Wilbur Award, came out in 2021. His work has appeared in such publications as Best American Poetry, The Paris Review and POETRY. Read his work at www.americandivine.com.

Issue: 
62