Broadway is dark now, vacant. The only lights to be seen shine out of hastily abandoned office windows, or from traffic lights that change for invisible crowds.
Makeshift stages shrink to fit into screens, the audience now virtual. Dreams stand still, waiting between hope and grief.
dancing voices pause–
forever on the verge of
opening to spring
Billy Joel wrote this song in 1976, inspired by the NY Daily News Headline “Ford to City: Drop Dead”. And in 2020 we have a parallel line: “Trump to New York: Drop Dead”.
But we’ll be back.
For dVerse Haibun Monday, hosted by Kim. We’re thinking about Mondrian’s ‘Broadway Boogie Woogie‘.
K. 
Like me, you kept NYC and Broadway as your frame of reference, and presented more topical abstract art to illustrate your poetic POV. I did some similar gyrations.
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You did ! Thanks Glenn.
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Seems like the New York Staie of mind has been drastically altered for the time being. Love the haiku …voices always on the verge … yes.
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Thanks Dwight. The state of mind is still here, waiting.
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May that opening come soon.
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Yes. I fear it will be awhile though.
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I love that Billy Joel song! Goes perfectly with the image.
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Thanks. He is such a dynamic performer. Old and young.
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Yes, on the verge of Spring, we waited and waited.
I am a Billy Joel fan too. Thanks for the musical addition to your poem.
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Thanks Ali. I was just listening to his greatest hits, so he came immediately to mind.
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Music is something we can always lean on.
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Yes. We are all in the clutches of some weird limbo. Waiting for spring. Great haiku
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Your haibun is truly dynamic, the movement from vibrant to stsndstill, the hope dancing in the minds of grief. The quiet flow from text into haiku. Bravo
Stay safe
Thank you for dropping by to read mine
Much🔶️🔷️love
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Thanks. Waiting is everywhere.
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I love this post and your acute observations on New York. Mondrian would be so saddened to see what has happened to his beloved city.
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It will return in some form. How and when? Now is the time to address the inequalities.
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Absolutely!
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I love the way you zoom straight into the unfamiliar darkness of Broadway, something that doesn’t happen often, seeing as Broadway has kept lights on and curtains up, and the show has always gone on, even during wars and recessions. It is significant of the dark time in which we are living, and the Billy Joel song is so apt. The image of the lights from hastily abandoned office windows and ‘traffic lights that change for invisible crowds’ is haunting, and I love the haiku.
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Thanks Kim. We are still searching for good government. So little about that has changed since the 1970s. Its disheartening.
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We have a similar problem here, but not in such a scary scale.
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Your collages and title really accentuate the mood. “Dreams stand still, waiting between hope and grief” says it all.
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Thanks Lynn. Everything is in limbo right now.
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You have captured so much in your haibun, especially for the outsiders (non-NY-ers looking in.) I love the graphic representational morph from colorful structure to greyscale mish-mash. The line that stands out for me: “Dreams stand still, waiting between hope and grief.”
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Thanks Jade. The arts are the heart and soul of the city. We need them.
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I like your description: “Dreams stand still, waiting between hope and grief”
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Thanks Frank. Many of our dreams are on hold now.
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I do like you painting/collage. And the image of the lights going off makes me think of the Edward Grey quote from August 1914 “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
New York has had a lot of press over here, good, sympathetic press. There must be a spirit, like Barcelona under Franco, resistance.
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Thanks Jane, thas good to know.
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The broadway and cities are so different these days with covid… wonder if it will ever light up again.
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It will, though it may be a long time from now, unfortunately.
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I like the title (referring to Broadway) juxtaposed to the image of the traffic and street lights still on, changing, walk signs/red/yellow/green/green arrows — flickering to no one. Directing nothing. Eerie.
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The city is very eerie. I imagine you see that as well.
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