i just start getting used to New York
when we end up in Manhattan
and again i don’t understand

so many people
such chaos
such stress

if i had to name it
i think it would be tourists

what are you getting
out of New York City
if you only stay
where there are others like you?

where all your photos are the same
and your experiences shaped by
cookie cutters?

(i could easily ask this of myself
in Machu Picchu
in Qorikancha
safely passing the Andes
by train)

i wouldn’t be so bold as to say
i’ve seen the ‘real New York’

(with such a diverse population
there’s got to be just as many
real New Yorks as there are people)

but i’m sure as hell
going to try to stay far away
from the ‘fake New York’