Sign Inventory, Week 3

107 & Amsterdam

A phalanz of cabs surges uptown in tune
to the staggered lights an two young black
men spurt across the dark avenute (two a.m.)

ahead of them: We're here, motherfuckers,
don't mess up. Three of five cabs honk: We're here
too, older and clawing for a living, don't

fuck up. The cabs rush uptown and the lights
go green ahead like a good explanation.
Eveyone knows this ballet. Nobody falls or brakes.

Tonight i talked for hours and never said
one thing so close tot he truculent heart of speech
as those horn blats, that dash across Amsterdam,

not to persuade nor to be understood but
a kind of signature, a scrawl on the air:
We're here, room for all of us if we be alert.

* A phalanx of cabs is an interesting image, because it inovkes ideas of war in the city.

*(two a.m.) It's odd that it is pointed out that two men dart accross the dark avenue. Is there some added meaning here?

*The conversations seems to be the cabbies, but we are not sure who is speaking and why.

*The fact that good explanations are green is an interesting fact.

*The use of the enjaments through the entire poem create a tension that helps with the imagery of a busy city.

*Only two lines end stanzas with periods, and they both have to deal with being alert or able to stop.

*Is the ballet here just talking about cabs or could there be a more deeper meaning.

*The repetition of "We're Here" is said three times and there seems to be some kind of tension that is evident.

*The idea that even though we talk for hours without saying anything more important that car horns beeping is a profound image.

*Where is there room for us all? Is it a cab or life? There are a few ideas that provoke thought.