Worcester, My First Day

 The cop who wrote me

a ticket for jaywalking

on midsize downtown Main,

the city bus ride,

then a short walk

to Fenwick Hall,

the heart of Holy Cross,

the college on the hill,

the interstate steel

falling down

over Southbridge Street,

striking to the ground

a future neighbor,

my new girlfriend’s eyes

as she came

down the carved

and polished wooden stairs,

the awakened pangs,

bereft and alone,

of my second love.