Things to Do in New York City

by Ted Berrigan

Ted Berrigan

FOR PETER SCHJELDAHL

Wake up high up
frame bent & turned on
Moving slowly
& by the numbers
light cigarette
Dress in basic black
& reading a lovely old man’s book:
by the waters of manhattan
change
flashback
play cribbage on the Williamsburg Bridge
watching the boats sail by
the sun, like a monument,
move slowly up the sky
above the bloody rush:
break yr legs & break yr heart
kiss the girls & make them cry
loving the gods & seeing them die
celebrate your own
& everyone else’s birth:
Make friends forever
& go away

From: 
The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan