Abandoned shops

Window shopping is peering at masks.

How we envy the naked unmasked faces of mannequins

the innocence of faceless children

Envy their freedom and their safety

Behind the sterility of showcase glass.

But only a block or two later

Mannequins adorned with the new norm of ornate masks

As if somehow we’ve given up.

and now window shopping is looking in the mirror

alongside restaurants resuscitating themselves

the patients being Upper East Siders in field tents

hyperventilating on crab cakes and apple martinis.

The desolation of an empty pizza place on a Friday night

two steps from the hopper, one step from a Hopper painting.

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