Central Park Stories

Bsd

1.

                         Girl with pink hair 

            fairy wings painted on her face 

                             bells 

                       strapped over jazz dancers' shoes

                               on her ankles. She sings, 

                  her voice ringing out alongside the pure tone 

                                   of the bells she rings 

                      under the bridge with its Turkish ceiling

                            accompanied by the dark faced 

                                       dread - locked 

                                          black man.

                An elf and a witch doctor, singing together.

2.

Two girls crouch under the statue in the fountain, and they are orphans, thieves, searching for something they barely believe in, armed with a rusty key and the spell sold to them by the old woman in the market. In New York City's Central Park, they are two girls, too old for this, who indulge themselves in a moment of childish fantasy. In a city whose name does not exist, they are exactly that, and who knows what else? Witches themselves, lost princesses, oddly loyal citizens? They teach themselves to fence with badminton rackets, or sticks, or perhaps they do not teach themselves to fight at all, except to survive.