Monday, February 14, 2022

Thursday, February 10, 2022

June-like...

... Weather-wise, anyway. Not what we need right now. But who can really complain?

June 
Alex Dimitrov

There will never be more of summer 
than there is now. Walking alone 
through Union Square I am carrying flowers 
and the first rosé to a party where I’m expected. 
It’s Sunday and the trains run on time 
but today death feels so far, it’s impossible 
to go underground. I would like to say 
something to everyone I see (an entire 
city) but I’m unsure what it is yet. 
Each time I leave my apartment 
there’s at least one person crying, 
reading, or shouting after a stranger 
anywhere along my commute. 
It’s possible to be happy alone, 
I say out loud and to no one 
so it’s obvious, and now here 
in the middle of this poem. 
Rarely have I felt more charmed 
than on Ninth Street, watching a woman 
stop in the middle of the sidewalk 
to pull up her hair like it’s 
an emergency—and it is. 
People do know they’re alive. 
They hardly know what to do with themselves. 
I almost want to invite her with me 
but I’ve passed and yes it’d be crazy 
like trying to be a poet, trying to be anyone here. 
How do you continue to love New York, 
my friend who left for California asks me. 
It’s awful in the summer and winter, 
and spring and fall last maybe two weeks. 
This is true. It’s all true, of course, 
like my preference for difficult men 
which I had until recently 
because at last, for one summer 
the only difficulty I’m willing to imagine 
is walking through this first humid day 
with my hands full, not at all peaceful 
but entirely possible and real.

Buy the book: Love and Other Poems

Friday, February 4, 2022

Recent inequality trends: wealth vs. income

Paul Krugman has a nice piece reminding us that we should pay attention to income inequality, despite a recent focus on wealth in popular discourse. The trends can look rather different.