How funny you are today New York <br />like Ginger Rogers in Swingtime <br />and St. Bridget's steeple leaning a little to the left <br /> <br />here I have just jumped out of a bed full of V-days <br />(I got tired of D-days) and blue you there still <br />accepts me foolish and free <br />all I want is a room up there <br />and you in it <br />and even the traffic halt so thick is a way <br />for people to rub up against each other <br />and when their surgical appliances lock <br />they stay together <br />for the rest of the day (what a day) <br />I go by to check a slide and I say <br />that painting's not so blue <br /> <br />where's Lana Turner <br />she's out eating <br />and Garbo's backstage at the Met <br />everyone's taking their coat off <br />so they can show a rib-cage to the rib-watchers <br />and the park's full of dancers with their tights and shoes <br />in little bags <br />who are often mistaken for worker-outers at the West Side Y <br />why not <br />the Pittsburgh Pirates shout because they won <br />and in a sense we're all winning <br />we're alive <br /> <br />the apartment was vacated by a gay couple <br />who moved to the country for fun <br />they moved a day too soon <br />even the stabbings are helping the population explosion <br />though in the wrong country <br />and all those liars have left the UN <br />the Seagram Building's no longer rivalled in interest <br />not that we need liquor (we just like it) <br /> <br />and the little box is out on the sidewalk <br />next to the delicatessen <br />so the old man can sit on it and drink beer <br />and get knocked off it by his wife later in the day <br />while the sun is still shining <br /> <br />oh god it's wonderful <br />to get out of bed <br />and drink too much coffee <br />and smoke too many cigarettes <br />and love you so much<br /><br />Frank O'Hara<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/steps/
