I never saw a torch flung out of

a speeding car, until music from one

suddenly burst down a block

igniting everything in its path

a smoldering ember from those

boom box years of other

fiery New York summers catching hold

when New York wasn’t the whole world

now catches me off guard

sipping an iced drink to cool off

from more than the weather

so loud it went on for blocks

I kept straining to hear

what I didn’t want to stop

and let back in

Linda Lerner is the author of 19 collections including, most recently, When Death is a Red Balloon (Lummox Press, 2019.) Her poems have recently appeared in Maintenance, Patersn Literary Review, Gargoyle, Free State Review and one Art among others. Her next collection, Taking The F Train,” was scheduled for publication in fall 2021, from NYQ Books.