new york – Wolverine Lily

Footsteps. Sirens. Honks.
Engines snarl.
Anger scrapes the air.

Signs strobe.
Screens flash color,
wrestling for dominance.
The higher I look, the larger they grow.
No place for my eyes to land.

Light doesn’t illuminate the world—
it blinds.

Bodies clutter
hats and bags—
ants in human shapes.
Arms crane, phone-lenses skyward,
snapping proof of being here.

Grease hangs like a fog,
slicking my face and hair,
onion hiss, burnt meat
grilling on exhaust.

A shoulder slams into mine,
Unkind eyes—
scanning.
I clutch my pocket.
Fear seeps in—
or just the cold?

My breath trails me,
a white shadow,
my only company.

Times Square—
the crowd packed
like caviar in a barrel.

I stand within—
at the center of the world.