my TurnStyle
Train pulls into Grand Central
dressed crisp in my gray button-down and thin black tie blue, gray and black color-block pullover on top
I popped on The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar’s “Pray For Me”
and slid my iPhone into the chest pocket of my black CAT winter parka adjusted my Powerbeats² wireless earbuds and walked with a powerful bass drum beat rhythm to my step
weaving smoothly through hordes of commuters with heads down in their phones reading and tourists with heads up and their phones snapping
straight across the main concourse down the hall, swipe through the turnstyle and down to the cross-town shuttle platform
subway doors close speed across town underground pull into the station as the song reaches its ululating climax
out the train through the turnstyle and up the stairs
I pop up in Times Square timed perfectly as
Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All The Stars” pops up in my headphones
Head bobbing in time with my heart pounding the beat into my soul as I walk down 42nd Street strutting in my slim black dress pants pounding my soles into the pavement in my black leather Cole Haans
Breath escapes my lips and curls into clouds of cold air around me as rain drops start to fall
I’m motherfuckin’ James Dean in a Dennis Stock photo scene No cigarette tho, cause I’m a rebel but clean
I flip up my hood and walk on without a break in my stride
crossing the crosswalks traversing cars and pedestrian traffic with the precision of carefully crafted choreography
as SZA’s R&B & neo-soul-drenched vocals wring out into the wet New York City streets on a February Friday night and yes, all the stars are closer
