'Pieces of Jennifer Melfi, M.D.' by Elizabeth Englander at Kimberly Klark, New York

I am a city by the sea sinking into a toxic tide.

I've been scattered in pieces, torn by conflict, mocked by laughter, washed down in drink.

In alleyways I sweep myself up out of garbage and broken glass.

It’s here in all the pieces of my shame that now I find myself again. 1

*****

Manhattan sinking like a rock into the filthy Hudson, what a shock. They wrote a book about it, they said it was like ancient Rome. 2   

1 Rainer Maria Rilke, “II,2” (excerpts), Rilke’s Book of Hours, trans. Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy, Riverhead Books, New York, NY: 1996, 2005.

2 Lou Reed, “Romeo Had Juliette,” New York, Sire, 1989.