Past live chickens in crates
on 148th street children play
at Martin Luther King Playground.
I dream of swings becoming
doves they will fly
Stray cats hang out
underneath jungle gym bars
after the children go
to mothers or grandmothers
the smell of burning cheese
calling them home.
I eat alone in a diner
with fluorescent lights—
one the shape of a fork—
on the walls
pictures of Muhammad Ali
and Diana Ross.
The waitress asks
“you want a warm up honey?”
her auburn hair in a bun
under a net.
She’s already tilting the pot
of coffee toward my cup
“Sure.” I say
knowing more coffee
will keep me awake
think maybe
that’s a good thing
for the long bus ride home.
On the way to the stop
I detour inside a bodega
on the corner, buy a can of tuna
to leave for the cats
before children come at sunrise
and chase them away.
Gabriella Belfiglio is an Italian-American, queer artist and political activist in Brooklyn, NY. She is the author of the poetry collection, The Fig Thief. Her work has most recently been published in Paterson Review. She is a winner of the W.B. Yeats award and a Saltonstall fellow. Belfiglio was also chosen as the guest artist for The Sable Project. Belfiglio teaches self-defense, martial arts, and conflict resolution. Her work has been published in many anthologies and journals including The Centrifugal Eye, Folio, Avanti Popolo, Poetic Voices without Borders, Lambda Literary Review, and The Paterson Review. She is part of the poet trio, The Ferlinghetti Girls, with Paola Corso and Phyllis Capello