the man with multiple personalities becomes confused when he plays solitaire.

the man on the corner is dead but does not know it yet.

the Iraq war veteran with one leg is more afraid of losing his wife than his remaining leg.

the walls in the tenement weep from hearing the wailing of the poor.

the police alarms pierce the night but the safe and comfortable hear nothing.

the fumes from cars and garbage will kill the child before she is 12 but no one cares.

the discarded wine bottles on the street are more beautiful than the defaced artwork.

the unemployed become homeless and then are cursed by the police.

the tourists only visit the tony sections then say there are no ghettoes in the city.

the husband is angry with his wife for not swapping partners for sex.

the man with tattoos can’t express his individuality after all his body is covered with ink.

above all else there is the loneliness of the city.

the loneliness is not advertised on billboards.

the loneliness does not blast from cab radios.

but loneliness follows the man who jumps from the skyscraper

and lands on the newborn child in the stroller pushed by her unwed mother.