Perhaps

Happy Birthday, B.

then it was hometown tourism
sunday cooking in motown kitchen
flag shops, old cities, asian markets
buttresses fly to the ivy to erudite
name calling as historical context
it is a public speaking laughter
ridiculous engagements of men who
sing like women and women who
what was never said about new york
what you way in stones foresees the
mistaken otherness of true aliens
it is art that admonishes not us
silence we speak in spinning class
of absentees and run away names