Smoking on a Balcony (April 9, 2003)

Flick the ash off the end
And it will glow again red
Like the Renaissance Hotel on the horizon,
Beacon of the Hollywood phoenix
Rising: Renaissance blurring into Hotel.

Television evidence of the worldwide
Celebration of redecoration:
The tank takes down the cast–iron tyrant
Like an out-dated centerpiece
To be replaced by another replica
Of the British 19th century.

In the quiet night, a falcon flies by
Unphased by the concrete high–rise trees.
I sit on the balcony and appreciate
How the lift of my lungs creates
A slight, organic shift in the scenery.