Invite the Pigeons by Geer Austin

Just into dark, this city block spotlights.
Neon infiltrates the chicken slaughterhouse,
and illuminates the mobster social
club. Aspirations swell the corner bar
as my transplanted body lays claim
to Hernandez Hermanos, a bodega where
I carry out Café Bustelo and Dos Equis.
Mulberry Street freezeframes sepia
and women lower window shades
like syncopated dancers on a dim stage.
I hurry past the parking garage, the attendant
portly, its depths a mystery, black vehicles
departing for the suburbs. So fast,
this transformation, everyone quickens,
loud music solicits business—the red grasp
of restaurant booths, the red chasm inside me.

Geer Austin’s poetry has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Fjords Review, Main Street Rag, Poet Lore, and others. He is the author of Cloverleaf, a poetry chapbook (Poets Wear Prada Press). He lives in New York City.