City Swap

My New York Times was missing,

The Journal there instead,

A paper which I do not get

And never ever read.

 

It had the normal label

With a name that wasn’t mine

And Apt. 3L listed –

Different floor and different line.

 

Going down 6 floors I noticed

Lots of papers by the door,

So the tenant wasn’t home, but then

I realized something more.

 

The number on the label

Was a building ‘cross the street,

So I headed there, expecting that

I’d end up in defeat.

 

But I scanned the building’s roster

And I buzzed up to 3L,

Where the Wall Street Journal orderer

Apparently did dwell.

 

He came downstairs and, in the lobby,

Waiting for a claim,

Were copies of The New York Times,

One labeled with my name.

 

We traded papers and I left

While smiling in delight,

My city swap providing me

A theme on which to write.