SoHar or "The New Harlem"

Someone pushed me against you,
and I think we may have danced.
I still wonder why they did that,
but in the mean time:

Being with you is like holding a dove in both hands.
The sound of your voice is elegeiac;
of great distance, color and mastery of the air.
While quiet in my hands,
There is the power of great distances  in you,
long, cinematic continuities, way beyond my mindscape.

And when it is over and you are gone
the signature of your heartbeat continues
to pulsate in my palms and fingertips.

II


You told me you are Aquarian and my smile is like the breadth of the room
and full of laughing confusion like the clothes on the racks and manequins:
Aquarians are my nemesis, I remember, no wonder!
(Run!)


III
Between 114th and 119th two stanzas:

Aquarians are my Nemesis:
Like the storms on Jupiter,
they last a hundred years, wreaking havoc through our several generations of manhood.

And:
Aquarius has crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.


To my delighted surprise,
Mocha Lounge has an open mike poetry night!
I ask and they offer me the overtime slot.

The MC, ready for the end introduces me as comedy by mistake.

I have dreamt of rising to such an occasion but I am only half-hearted.

Still I make them laugh, and out of a moments silence, I say into the microphone:

                    Being with you is like holding a dove in both hands.

                    And when you are gone
                    the signature of your heartbeat continues
                    to pulsate in  my fingertips.

I said more, told them about my Dad's passing, and Oakland,
But that was it.