Bootstrap Blues

I said,
No man ev'r got his woman back
beggin' on his knees
he's got to make somethin' o' himself
before his woman he'll please.

Lord knows he knows how much she's worth
but can he pay the price?
He can wish and try his lot,
only a gentleman will suffice.

Now see, she weren't born yesterday
she smells the insincere
pull on up your bootstraps son
because the price is dear.

now don't you go a moanin'
because when your moanin's through
I tell you you'd have gained two lives
one for her and one new life for you.

Manhattan may happen

Manhattan may happen 

to be a playground, or at least

that's what I see.

Latin madams tapping passionate Inwood rhythms 

with dancing feet,

fashion captains wrapping satin

and sumptuous Chelsea sheets.

Capital snapping croupiers at large along
Wall-street, meet - while

vintaged hipsters wax round

Lower East Side eats.

Touring travellers, 'n' bargain grapplers

haggle for Fifth Ave treats, as

Harlem heavyweights spit heavenly hymns and
 hip, hop, beats

Broadway bards belt ballads
at west-end seats

Meat-packing clubbers, pub-ers

drink IPAs: rinsing and repeat.

while I saunter slowly,

a legal alien on these streets.

Manhattan may-happen

to have
what I need.

Surrounded

She consistently exceeds

my ability 

to experience her.

( )

What am I more,
than possessed dust
A parenthesis in
inanimated-ness.

I'm here to witness?
here to see?
to hold an ego
to call it 'me'.

what if we break these (bars)
when we connect
as at that point
we're infinite

so maybe that's
what we're here to see
this infinite mess
of broken parentheses.