daphne gottlieb

from Ron Kolm's "Divine Comedy"

1.
Let's take a walk
You said.
Okay, I said.
And here we are
High above the East River
On a pedestrian walkway
On the Triboro Bridge
Hiking from Astoria
To Randall's Island
As rush-hour traffic
Streams by.
I hate my life
You say
And I know
You're not joking.
I wonder if you're
Thinking of jumping
And what I would do
If you did.
It's a long way down
To the tug
Pushing a barge
On the fiery waters
As it disappears
Beneath the bridge.
Should I grab
for your arm
And probably die too
Or simply admit
I want to live
And let you fall.
It's late afternoon
when we finally reach
Our destination
Descending a cement
Stairway that deposits us
Onto a parking lot
Near the Manhattan
Psychiatric Center.

[...]

(Google books has parts II and III, and they're worth reading...)