AMERICAN DREAM
tanka poems by Dimitar Anakiev
a pigeon
in South Ferry terminal
seeks food
each 6th American hungry
in this too rich country
comfortably undressed, I eat
a oatmeal raisin cookie
on my 51st birthday:
two bible sellers wish me
welcome to the United States
a storm on the sea
in the bay of Manhattan:
a seagull
flies above the waves
against the wind
on the Staten Island Railway
one car's door opens just for me
to see gusts of rain
traveling from Eltingville
toward the bay of St. George
in the company
of an old umbrella
belonging to my cousin
I watch the rain slope
into an empty station
at Brookfield Avenue
the wind whips up a storm:
in a sea of petals
I pass along
with a storm in my soul
silence in the church
Transfiguration of Jesus
I sit in an angle
enjoying the mystic
until the parsons came
white waterfall
before Chase bank
and red tulips
by Rockefeller Center
wait for Hiro Sato
thinking
about my American situation
squirrels
jumping over the fence
from both sides
(first published: Red Lights, Vol.8, No.1, 2012, Allentown, PA)
