An old man
with flowering onions for cheeks
and a newspaper tongue
covered in cyan and magenta splotches
sits on the frame of the Lincoln Center fountain.
The sun is beating down on his back,
and his triangularly wedged feet expand inside his shoes.
The prior day’s rain is left in a puddle
under his swinging toes
blinding him with the glaring sun.
He is acutely aware of his sweating back and his aching eyes,
and decides he has been surrounded by
a sun barricade.