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POETRY

The Weather in Brooklyn

Jake Goldwasser

The Weather in Brooklyn

The following is a conversation between a person and the Google Home device on his nightstand.

Tell me the weather in Brooklyn, New York

Tell me the hourly weather in Brooklyn, New York

Tell me how many people in Brooklyn, New York

            are sleeping by themselves tonight

            under the ironwork

                        of headboards

Tell me the weather

Tell me about a time

                                    you faced an obstacle and

            how you overcame it

                        and tell me what that

            measurement was

Tell me about the time

            we floated

                        down the river

            shaped like the kind of string

                                    you find in the pocket of

            your jeans

                        in floats that looked like

            flamingoes and

                        pineapples

Tell me the capital of South Dakota

            for the crossword we’re working on

                        with legs twisted

            on the couch like pipe cleaners

Tell me the meaning of the word “shibboleth”

Tell me

            it has never felt

                        as much like a coincidence as this

            like we came to the same lock with

                                    the same

            snaggletooth keys

Tell me this is going to work out just fine

Tell me what it was you liked

                        about

            me again

Tell me

            the divorce rate in Brooklyn, New York

Tell me the difference between love and desire, then

Tell me

            seven science-backed tips for being more productive

Tell me the name of the neurotransmitter for intimacy

Tell me what I have on the schedule today

Tell me that quote about god laughing at our plans,

            then

Tell me where you want to take this decade

            or where you see it bringing you

Tell me about

            the projects you meant to get to

                        while seasons seemed

            to dissipate

                        out the windows of

            the offices we sleepwalked into

Tell me about your fear of time passing,

            the watch face

                                    and why

                                    it’s as thick

                                    as your wrist

Tell me what it was you meant to say

            before your mouth closed

            before we heard footsteps on the staircase

                        and cowered under covers

                                    like

            naked children

Tell me the weather again

Tell me the weather in Brooklyn, New York

Tell me again

            the joke you used to tell

                        the one about

                                    the sleeping lovers

                        in the city,

                                    the last lights

            blinking off

                        like eyelids in some

forgotten measure

            of a lullaby

Author Photo of Jake Goldwasser
Jake Goldwasser is a poet and cartoonist based in Brooklyn. You can find his poetry in The Spectacle, The Meadow, and elsewhere. His cartoon work has appeared in The New Yorker, Weekly Humorist, and elsewhere. He is a New Jewish Culture Fellow for the 2020-2021 cycle, for which he is teaching a graphic memoir seminar. You can find him on Instagram at @jakegoldwasser.

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