Monday, July 27, 2015

Other Side of Me - Harlem, NY

Photo by Carolina Hinojosa-Cisneros, 2014
Harlem, NY

And there a concrete figure of a man stands still
He knows not of me nor I of him wrapped in shadows
Two humans in the space of a riddled sidewalk
staring into each other for a moment not too soon
then through each other to be alive on the other side

He is captured in my lens, yet my lens has focused up
My eye is still focused on him, my camera lens 
transfixed upon the famous Apollo and
my eye adjusts on the figure of the man standing
still in front of me stapled into the Harlem sidewalk

My camera beeps three times to focus on what it
believes that I want it to focus on neon Apollo and it misses
the man upon the sidewalk who is now
coming toward me with a hand outstretched snapping
snap, crack, snap, crack to the rhythm of a song only audible to him

The couple behind him stare into their program
unsure if they are at the right place – yes, it’s the Apollo
Fingers poised at the slot that marks 9:00 p.m.
standing in Harlem ready for the next show and
the man’s music fades out as conversations surround

Tap, snap, creak, squish, breathe, snap, crack, snap, swroosh

The man alive on the other side of me.

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