Portrait # 15 (for Stephen Ciacciarelli)

The first detective in a cast of thousands
doing time considering all the true masters.
Through the convergence of forces one creates the first
brownstone skyscrapers while subway trains diverge
and disappear completely in subterranean snowstorms.
You live by sounds and images. The East River
sends you messages you turn from pictures
into words and back again. The world runs us over into cover,
tears the eyelids from our eyes. You take it all in, standing
out in the open like a bridge, defying both gravity and friction,
the time which will always be lost.