Shari Zollinger

Mamoun’s

—Psychogeography: the study of how places hold the imprint of movement, memory, and emotion.

I am the small
stretch

of concrete
outside
a falafel shop
            West Village, NY

I can retrace
every sole
(a kind of perfect pitch)
            who’s crossed
my threshold

every tread

pace

falter

The thing is
no footfall is ever
ever    

like the other

This night

a group arrives

jubilant shuffling friends

there is one
with a long dark
ponytail

who pronounces
best place to eat falafel
in New York City

I remember
because streetlight
            gave way

and solstice
turned one a.m.

before the sweepers came

before I grew dizzy
with the glide

of one
who was already

leaving

I’ve gotten good
at footprints

some
come as weather
            upon my pavement

            residual
porous

archival

Another day
years later
            a family
with patter
            that matched        

            their brother
            the one with
                        the long dark

I remember daylight
            replaced one a.m. 

I remember
being   all too aware

            of my geography         

They said Ryan            

snapped photos
            ordered falafel

unwrapped
pita sandwiches
            like they were holy 

trudged careful
toward Washington Square Park

to eat

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Shari Zollinger is a Salt Lake City-based poet, writer and bookseller whose work examines memory, place and the traces we leave in both landscape and life. She currently reads for Sugar House Review and has spent 25 years working in independent bookselling as a buyer and community advocate for literary programs and projects.