The Meaning of Urbanity

The people on the sidewalk
Look in the windows at
The people in the restaurant and
The people in the restaurant look out
At the people looking in. Yeats said
Keats was a boy with his nose pressed
Against the glass of a sweet shop.
Yeats said a lot of dismissive things.

I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking,
And everything and everyone's connected
But that stops no one from dying,
And damn few from dying in the streets.
2006 I tried to get into Keats' last
Misery beside the Spanish Steps.
What a pretty, touristy destination,
The young in one another's pants
And pockets as buskers played,
And I was too late and the sweet
Shop was closed forever to outsiders
Dying to get in. I want to look
Out at them, want them to look in.