Wednesday, April 2, 2014

NaPoWriMo - Day 2

An Open Letter to New York Tourists
By Liz Kelso

Yes the big building is pretty
Yes the homeless man is dirty
Don’t stop to read your map in the center of Times Square
Don’t look at us natives as if we are aliens from the dark skies

We walk fast
We talk fast
We rush on by
We will push you and not apologize
We will mumble profanities – audibly
Roll our eyes
Suck our teeth

No we don’t wait for the light when we cross the street
Don’t copy, you can’t, you’ll die

We can walk and text – our antennae are working
Don’t copy, you can’t, you’ll die

Unless of course
You’re from Tokyo or Hong Kong
Or some other similarly insane city
That has perfected the art of the zig zag and the bee line

If you are from Wichita or Kickapoo
Where the pace is a little slower
And the streets a less chaotic
Don’t annoy us natives
By taking a picture of the neon billboards
When we are trying to enter the subway station

The world thinks we natives are rude, unkind and nasty
We’re not
We’re just perpetually in a hurry to our graves
And your meandering and expressions of awe

Are breaking our stride.

4 comments:

Wall-to-wall books said...

Yo Liz!!!!!!! Miss you!

Wow, that poem is amazing! It brought tears to my eyes! I'm so proud of you!

Ashley said...

I love this! Great perspective! My sister in law is from Binghamton but fits right in in NYC, I on the other hand and very obviously a tourist when I visit. My husband laughed at me for taking pictures of the farmers market. He said, "of course you would find the one country thing to take a picture of in the city"

Ashley said...

BTW the comment above mine is my mother, she turned me on to your blog :)

Unknown said...

Hi guys. Miss you too Wendy. I am trying to post more! Thanks for looking Ashley