everything is alive again. it is 11pm and there is a man
walking down 1st avenue with a black and white piano tie
and a goofy pointed hat. he is buying incense from an
african man on the street and asks, 'do you sell vanilla
flavored?' i am walking past Xunta and am wondering
how and where you are. i peek in to see if i can spot
another potential budding relationship in the works but
see only a lonely man in a black leather coat smoking
a cigarette and reading the Village Voice. all at once
i am swallowed up by a sea of class trip students
obviously from some small town somewhere . a few
students appear to have been 'hitting the bottle'
(peach schnapps?) in the shadow of their oblivious
chaparone. trailing behind the group are the two class
lovers, too cool for school, too cool to let one another
know how much they really care about the other.
they shuffle along hiding under baggy pants and fluffy
fleece sweaters while dragging their feet - elbows
touching. i pass two teenage girls spending time
together on their seperate cell phones. one says
into her phone, 'And I was like..what are you talking
about?' the other says into her phone, 'And I was
like...whatever!' They stand back to back smoking,
their bodies touching as if being measured.

so what is it to be yourself or alone while together?
not sure really but decide that tonighti am enjoying
the beauty of the trial and error. it is dark and it is
raining. i am overdressed in my white winter coat
with fur. i attract the eyes of a laughing couple in
the picture window of a Japanese restaurant.
the girl looks shy as she kicks back her tiny
cup of warm sake.