New York Fire Escape

 

On the lower east side

Of New York

I would sit there

When I was about

Twenty years old,

And in the evening,

When the moon was

Bright, I would

Write poetry, on

A yellow pad,

I was living alone,

Trying to make it

In New York as a Writer

And so far I got turned

Down by all the big magazines

In Manhattan, and was

Living in this cheap tenement, almost

Starving, but here in this little metal

Cage, was just enough

Room to write poetry,

Figuring the moon and stars

Would help me along,

And in case of fire,

All I had to do was run down

The staircase, till I got to the

Ground and I wrote with a pen

And a flashlight, my fingers numb

From early frost, and after

A while nothing happened

I got a damn sick of

The whole damn thing,

I climbed back through

The window, and went to sleep

In my iron cot

Copyright © 2008 by Ed Galing

 

Ed is ninety-two years young. He is widely published online and in various anthologies

Worldwide. Ed is a breath of fresh air to Fresh! Literary Magazine