Strawberry seed wedged between two teeth Forgot to floss Thinking of Liam
Should be sleeping Liam sitting Patch of sun Beer in hand Greenwich village
Trees lining brownstones I ramble About a girlfriend (ex-girlfriend?)
Moved to NYC difficulties finding an apartment About roaches Red walls
About labor At the denim shop Violi’s son Sometimes we’d see shows together
Sometimes Paul would ask How’s Alex these days? The three of us met for Thai
East Village Wish that happened more than once Where did the time go
What were we busy with poeming acting auditions teaching
Oh those things Hunting money Holding onto some kind of life
Corner table outside Don’t you just love the city this time of year
Telling Liam about her leaving About me staying Liam
having problems Can’t remember The pigeons cared none
About our problems Clustered in jagged lines pecking at scraps
Winter was delayed The feeling of Eternal Autumn Some trees held onto
Scent of bagels in the wind Liam and I thought our lives in New York City
Would somehow Be different Like we’d be somebody Famous… I don’t know respected
Didn’t want to give up we clanked glasses said we resigned ourselves to live
whatever these lives were in a city that we loved that would never love us back to life What is a life
Ambition The way things are How to feel
About the accumulation of minutes When the days start marking us
Is often this immense energy Thankless glasses drained of liquid
Impulsive logic outstretched egos The unrequited sadness settling later
At Liam’s (not Paul’s) memorial Poetry Project overflowing with people Some tears some
laughter A slide show Liam and his guitar He’d said he’d play me a song
Never got around to it Liam in a bathtub An objection to some photo I was
outside of their grief Mine less personal lack of intimacy His obsessions with minor and major poets
I am minoring I am mirroring
Contemplative failure thinking about his sonnet about money Waiting
in line to buy overpriced broccoli Coat with olive oil and salt Roast in oven
Half an idea Something about dinner About mouths What we put in them
What comes out of them Kanji test stress high time to Become invisible
Fleeing kitchen Apartment too small Domestic appetites and aspirations
Dinner will have to wait An entrance Overly announced
The way the door slams behind if you fail to catch it
Layout went it bit wonky… oh well.
i love the density of these fragments stitched together in remembering. really lovely.
I am minoring I am mirroring
I feel as if I am inside the gyre in these
I am minoring I am mirroring
In the mines! New York School of Tokyo.
This smells like New York and makes me miss Liam too. Hugs to you friend
“resigned ourselves to live/ whatever these lives were in a city that we loved that would never love us back to life What is a life ” Love this.
“Eternal Autumn” indeed. One day we’ll all meet back there again. Beautiful! <3
The minor and the major poets! This really brought me back to a time and place.