Cocktail Hour

High up
Manhattan crows
gossip -- each one
shadowing the rim
of a martini glass.

Their subject
is slowly stirred
along with the pearl
onion or olive.

Near the window
a girl stands
in that little black dress
listening.

Her fingers quiver
with a cigarette in hand
while smoke curls upward --

a signal
for her confidence
to fly back
from a circling tour
of the park,

from an impulse
to acquire
more ease, the glitter
of still, dark water.
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Note -- Paintng is called "The Red-Headed Woman" by Amedeo Modigliani