UNDERPASS

 UNDERPASS

Right across from where 

Donald Trump went to high school

There is an underpass 

Which tries to give you the illusion 

You are entering an underworld

While not exactly a place Hades might hangout

It does have its moments

As you first go down the stairs you are greeted 

By a crumbled pack of Marlboro 100 Lights cigarettes

Broken glass is scattered on the ground

And there is a generous display of trash

Plastic and paper bags like they've been 

There for hundreds of years rest comfortably

Next to a Red Mango yogurt  paper cup leaning on

A container recently prepared by Dagan Catering

Marked: Egg salad sandwich  

               Side salad 

You are also treated to a variety of empty bottles and cans:

Poland Spring water (born in Maine since 1845)

Wine (80% Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Merlot)

Smirnoff Zero Sugar Infusions(Strawberry & Rose)

Evan Williams Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey(Kentucky's 1st Distiller)

Modelo beer

Dole sliced pineapples

Guava nectar

Just to name a few

You don't know who or what you 

Will find as you go through the underpass

The walls of peeling paint scarred by artless graffiti

Make you feel at anytime someone or something

Can sneak up from behind  and grab you

So picking up your pace seems the best option

Funny enough I have walked through many times

But I have actually never seen anyone else there

Just the leftovers 

Of a quite a devilish party I imagine

 

THE SPIRIT OF COMMUNICATION

 

THE SPIRIT OF COMMUNICATION

Atop the entrance to 

The Forest Hills Post Office

There is a terracotta bass relief sculpture

Done in 1938

Of a topless woman

Holding a carrier pigeon and a clock

Most people walk right by her

As they are busy trying to send

Or pick up mail

Some things or some people

Are destined to be ignored

The other night while watching

"The Doomsday Machine" episode 

Of the original Start Trek series

For the fiftieth time or maybe more  

(Don't ask me why)

I started to focus on the crew woman

At the beginning of the show

Who passes by Captain James T. Kirk

On the bridge of the USS Enterprise

Blocking him for a brief moment

If you blink your eyes twice 

You would most likely miss her

Why is she there?

Like so many others you see

In the background

Walking the corridors

Of the starship

Going places

Supposedly doing things

You are not meant to 

Think much or anything about them

However for whatever reason

I'm not sure if its because

She seemed disconnected

From the danger at hand

(A solar system has been destroyed)

Holding on to a tablet and a pen

(How quaint!)

I wondered who she was 

I started to search for her

Going to various websites

With no luck

It's like she didn't exist

But finally I found something in

One of the Star Trek sites

Listing her as Crew Woman 13 

She had apparently appeared 

In another episode

"Amok Time"

Wanting to know her name

I found:

Unknown actress

A mystery to everyone but herself

At least the sculpture

Atop the entrance 

To the Forest Hills Post Office

Has a name:

"The Spirit of Communication"

 

 

ROADS

 ROADS

When one road closes

Another eventually opens

Or so we hope

RAT ICE

 RAT ICE

It's not easy being a rat in Queens

The scorching weather in July

And just when you thought

You were catching a break

With ice appearing from nowhere

Manna from heaven?

Turns out to be another human

Attempt to do you in

Time for a vacation

MUSHROOMS

 

MUSHROOMS

I know what you're thinking

Mushrooms are growing wild

In MacDonald Park

Along Queens Boulevard

So what else is new?

But I've passed by this 

Small park

Hundreds if not thousands

Of times before 

And I've never seen 

Such a lovely sight

Did I miss them?

I doubt it as they do pop

Out at you

A welcomed new addition 

To the neighborhood

At least until someone

Decides to taste them
 

CHICKENS

 CHICKENS

The chickens have come home to roost

In Forest Hills High School

Not sure they know why

And neither do I

Bird-brains?

Nature works in mysterious ways

POOP

 POOP

The sign makes it clear

Poop here and God will punish you

Do they believe God is that bored

To care who is pooping where?

Besides maybe a truly compassionate

God understands when you got 

To go you got to go

Dog or man

 

 

 

FLIGHT

 

 FLIGHT

Just in case you might  be wondering

Where you are 

Hanging from the glass ceiling

When you enter the spacious room

In the Marine Air Terminal (A)

Of La Guardia Airport

Is a model airplane

The Art Deco building

Constructed during the Great Depression 

Opened for business in 1939 

Its the last remaining terminal still in use 

Where you can can experience

What it was like when 

Air travel first became available

To the general public

Housed inside is also the largest mural of 

The Works Progress Administration 

A  Franklin Roosevelt New Deal agency 

Which employed over ten thousand artists 

Encouraging them to discover

A distinctive American style

James Brooks circular "Flight"

Completed in 1942 

Is 237 feet long by 12 feet high

Capturing humanity's

Longing to soar above the earth

However in 1952 during the Cold War 

Red Scare hysteria

Someone decided to cover up

The mural with wall paint

Because this magnificent work of art 

Was thought to be subversive 

Socialist or Communist

Daring to depict flying 

As something catering to the masses

Not strictly to the rich or to the military

Fortunately the mural 

Was sealed in varnish

So it was able to be restored 

To its former glory in 1980

Showing us our imagination 

Can often reach up to the skies

And at other times 

Sink down to the gutter

Only as in this case to rise again