Superbly Situated

you politely ask me not to die and i promise not to right from the beginning—a relationship based on good sense and thoughtfulness in little things i would like to be loved for such simple attainments as breathing regularly and not falling down too often or because my eyes are brown or my father left-handed and to be on the safe side i wouldn’t mind if somehow i became entangled in your perception of admirable objects so you might say to yourself: i have recently noticed how superbly situated the empire state building is how it looms up suddenly behind cemeteries and rivers so far away you could touch it—therefore i love you part of me fears that some moron is already plotting to tear down the empire state building and replace it with a block of staten island mother/daughter houses just as part of me fears that if you love me for my cleanliness i will grow filthy if you admire my elegant clothes i’ll start wearing shirts with sailboats on them but i have decided to become a public beach an opera house a regularly scheduled flight—something that can’t help being in the right place at the right time—come take your seat we’ll raise the curtain fill the house start the engines fly off into the sunrise, the spire of the empire state the last sight on the horizon as the earth begins to curve