I Am New York City

i am new york city

here is my brain of hot sauce

my tobacco teeth my

mattress of bedbug tongue

legs apart hand on chin

war on the roof insults

pointed fingers pushcarts

my contraceptives all

look at my pelvis blushing

i am new york city of blood

police and fried pies

i rub my docks red with grenadine

and jelly madness in a flow of tokay

my huge skull of pigeons

my seance of peeping toms

my plaited ovaries excuse me

this is my grime my thigh of

steelspoons and toothpicks

i imitate no one

i am new york city

of the brown spit and soft tomatoes

give me my confetti of flesh

my marquee of false nipples

my sideshow of open beaks

in my nose of soot

in my ox bled eyes

in my ear of saturday night specials

i eat ha ha hee hee and ho ho

i am new york city

never-change-never-sleep-never-melt

my shoes are incognito

cadavers grow from my goatee

look i sparkle with shit with wishbones

my nickname is glue-me

Take my face of stink bombs

my stars pangled banner of hot dogs

take my beer can junta

my reptilian ass of footprints

and approach me through life

approach me through death

approach me through my widow’s peak

through my split ends my

asthmatic laugh approach me

through my wash rag

half ankle half elbow

massage me with your camphor tears

salute the patina and concrete

of my rat tail wig

face up face down piss

into the bite of our handshake

i am new york city

my skillet-head friend

my fat-bellied comrade

citizens

break wind with me

Notes:

This essay is part of the portfolio “Jayne Cortez: I Imitate No One.” You can read the rest of the portfolio in the November 2024 issue.

“I Am New York City” is from Firespitter: The Collected Poems of Jayne Cortez (Nightboat Books, 2025) and was originally published in Scarifications (1973). We are grateful to Nightboat Books for their assistance in compiling this folio, and to the estate of Jayne Cortez for their permission in reprinting this poems.

Source: Poetry (November 2024)