METROPOLITAN DIARY

[elleng]

Tompkins Square Park
Dear Diary:

After clouds tumbled through the sky,
A sun-filled aura
Brought in the scent
Of hot pretzels,
And the afternoon light
Poured like liquid gold,
Onto East 10th Street,
Reflecting off the sunglasses
Of people gathering
Into Tompkins Square Park,
Mirroring the moment
Into an even brighter light,
Miniature suns around the words
Of Ginsberg
Slipping off the speaker’s tongue,
At the Howl! Festival, 2011,
And we just sat
Hanging like soldiers
On every word,
And then the day was over,
And we ran to make the bus
And “vanished into nowhere Zen New Jersey.”

— Kathryn Anne Sweeney-James

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/nyregion/metropolitan-diary.html