undiscovered brooklyn

i wandered today
wandered with purpose
but wandered just the same

from what was described as williamsburg
but wasn't
to what was described as clinton hill
but wasn't either
from the east side to bed stuy
and somewhere back again

along the way
i trekked through a part of brooklyn
i'd never fully known existed
in this capacity

there were no hipsters
no lezzies
no heath or michelle
but only jews
thousands and thousands of jews
for block after block after block after block
as far as the eyes could see

there were
jewish men traveling in fours
jewish ladies scurrying beside their young
jewish toddlers
jewish teens
and all dressed in traditional, orthodox garb
with hats and coats and curls galore
not one after the other
but ten by ten
at a time

embarrassed with myself
only slightly
for my inability to keep from singing
"matchmaker" aloud

my rolled-sleeve madonna concert tee
yankees baseball cap
and digital camera neck ornament
showed me for what i truly was
obscene
scandalous
and something somewhat shameful
to these groups of plaid-dressed girls
who giggled their ways home from school
seemingly confused
and possibly slightly intrigued
by the odd, older, christian boy
who was forbidden fruit
and the "un"chosen one
all at once

it was exciting to see this rich a culture
this powerfully strong a community
for the first ten or fifteen blocks
but when i hadn't see a man, woman or child
not dressed in traditional orhodox attire
come block number twenty
i started to get a little concerned

this was a ghetto
i realized as the leg-ache set in
this was a ghetto
plain and simple
the same way chelsea ghetto-izes homos
and kips bay ghetto-fies the jappy, wallstreet, post-frat, useless trash

and as i continued to walk
street by street
i started to question
how only one kind of people could inhabit an area this large
before i stopped
and re-evaluated
the way my mind was working

this was not one KIND of people
this was one religion
and there was a difference
diversity exists everywhere
every-single-where
and here
even here

i exited this community
maybe around block number thirty or so
and was somewhat sad to see it go
this was an eye-opening experience after all
and any time i get to travel on foot
through a neighborhood i haven't seen before
in this city that i love
well, that's a day well spent

but in conclusion
i'll beg your forgiveness
because my swelled appreciation
for this culture
in no way makes up for my relative lack of knowledge
in it

so with that
the most painfully cliched response imaginable
seems to be the only one i know

l'chaim
l'chaim
to life