Two Poems by Sarah Etgen-Baker

by Sarah Etgen-Baker

Urban Meditation

The subway whirs—

a thousand hands press close

in warmth, not fear.

Streetlights blink like

fireflies trapped in chrome.

Laughter climbs brick walls,

a thousand lives buzz,

entwined~

The city breathes.

We're not alone.

Stacked Hexagons

The city is a beehive—

hexagons stacked,

each buzzing with activity

morning, noon, and night.

Streets: wax-thin, sticky with footsteps.

Buildings: golden, leaning into each other,

their windows humming with fluorescence.

Every corner is a chamber~

workers trailing in, workers trailing out,

carrying briefcases instead of pollen.

The queen? She’s a rumor~

a shadow in the penthouse,

counting her hexagons,

her kingdom of glass.

And the honey?

Oh, the honey is the noise~

the honk and clatter,

the murmured deals,

the laughter pooling

in elevators,

thick as syrup.

We are all bees here,

dizzy with purpose,

lost in the comb.