This Spring, Broadway is going GREEN!
Mark Doty’s poem Broadway uses figurative language in a tale of a man’s experience going across Broadway and encountering two (implied) homeless people. The man shows kindness to both of them by even giving them the time of day. One homeless person was asking for change, he instead takes her hand and walks with her. The other was simply reciting a poem, asking for no return. The man empties the change out of his pockets for him. This brings meaning to the poem that outshines the setting itself in my opinion. Those asking for money need compassion, and those full of compassion need money. Though the connection to Broadway escapes me, the larger theme is presented by the use of comparison in figurative language.
I have read and heard that big cities are all about connections. Perhaps one could look at this poem as just another connection found on one of several city streets. The speaker does not get anything in return from any of these people but still feels it necessary to share the experience. As if he was writing a post card and lacked a way to describe the city. Besides that I could really see this being set anywhere. The connection of people in cities is all I could imagine as I read this.
