Pastel halls sound like hinging basketball courts
Beneath tapping feet on rhombus patterns
Accordions hiss up and down measuring cups
Roller coaster beads tie together lie detectors
Next to the man with the white squared collar
Who likes to recite a sutra mantra
Tempo machines beep with ticking tocks
That pump with pulsing hearts under flickering fluorescent
The busboys squeak restaurant carts
By the neon jukeboxes
After you pass the Hallmark next to Times Square
Where stocks scroll over lottery tickets
Attached to a crowd of waiters
Who never win

– Rachel R. Vasquez, 4/9/2008

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