An old railroad loco

by the side of a lake

 

A shocked motel clerk

greets us with the words:

Sadat is dead!

 

Chocolate chip pancake

late breakfast.

I almost throw up.

 

Disused Olympics

ski slope. Snow at the top

of Mount Washington.

 

Hard porn on the motel TV

in Palisades Park, New Jersey.

 

Bumper to bumper

at night

empty when we rise

next morning.

 

Take a wrong turn

find ourselves in Harlem

on our way to Central Park.

 

Folk gather round

fires on street corners.

 

Black guy in the car in front

at the lights swivels round

to point a finger gun. His idea

of a tourist joke, I guess.

 

Cops in Times Square.

Our hotel room on 42nd Street

among the little theatres

of Off-Off-Broadway.

 

Twin Towers on the skyline

looking back at Manhattan

from the Staten Island ferry.