Max Kurant – Goodbye, New York

Profile Max Kurant LE Child Mag July 2019

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Max Kurant is a member of the 2019 Townsend Harris High School graduating class and will  attend Binghamton University in the fall. He is the Literary Editor of The Phoenix, President of THHS’ Student Wellness Council and the recipient of the NYC DOE School Wellness Student of the Year Award 2018-19.


Goodbye, New York

I’ve written tributes to all I love
For when I leave this city of stars
I’ll be leaving all my loving
To those who have given me all my believing.
Most of all
To the city that has given me all:
Given me a life worth living,
Attributed to my success with attributes no other can surpass.
Boston
LA
Even cities of gold
Can’t ever raise me like this Empire State has
Because you’ve placed me 102 stories up,
Allowed a story to be told.
With eight million ears as an audience
You’ve birthed a voice so loud,
So bold.

I’d say you will be missed,
But you and I both know I’m never really leaving:
Never leaving the gleaming lights peering through
the night sky
Never leaving the night sky’s cool air after late
days lived above ground level
Never forgetting the level of life you’ve laid upon me

Thank you
To the city that can withstand anything
And has raised me that way,
Too.
Thank you
To the city that never sleeps.
I’ll never sleep another night
Not thinking about you.


© Max Kurant