Clothes slip away as the dew point rises

Tanned limbs exposed by scandalous shorts

Eliciting sideways smiles

on young men’s faces

 

Ray Bans and messy buns

taking the ferry to Governor’s Island

to find your spot on the lawn.  Food truck delicacies  

perched precariously in your lap

 

Joining the shiny masses at

Bryant Park, Coney Island, Yankee Stadium

Bringing a chair and a book to the

illimitable lines awaiting the bard

 

Subways become sudatory chambers of armpits and elbows

A slow dance of awkward intimacy

Side street hydrants sprinkling

ephemeral relief

 

Street fairs from Morningside Heights to Washington Square

Double decker buses snapping and waving down Broadway

Central Park erupting with a cacophonous parade

All of humanity in six square miles