Poem
St. Mark's Place caught at night in hot summer, Lonely from the beginning of time until now. Tompkins Square Park would be midnight green but only hot. I look through the screens from my 3rd floor apartment As if I could see something. Or as if the bricks and concrete were enough themselves To be seen and found beautiful. And who will know the desolation of St. Mark's Place With Alice Notley's name forgotten and This night never having been?
This poem was written in 1977. From Grave of Light: New and Selected Poems 1970-2005 (Wesleyan University Press, 2008). Copyright © 2008 by Alice Notley and reprinted with permission of Wesleyan University press.