Poem with Holes

For a brief stretch of pavement on the Brooklyn Bridge,
the taxi fare was the same as the time, like the supreme
convergence of man and universe,
like every choice I ever made
had moved me toward those thirty meters.
I brightened at the thought of you.

A plague of Swedish Fish,
flopping over the armrests of chairs.
Grapes fermenting on high shelves.
Handstands in bathtubs.
Whiskey, and whiskey, and whiskey.

Maybe it was the Adderall that made you attractive.
The energy, the brightness, the quickness.
The disassociation that someone like me could
mistake for wit.

The way you peel your bathing suit down,
just a little bit, evading the tan line.
The way you disappear.
The way you never say goodbye, not really.

Open Letters, Vol. 9

Dear Dude on the Subway,

Get some new pants.

Sincerely,
Lee

Back!

Returned from Greece! It was a marvelous trip. Granted, the jetlag hit me really hard this time--most likely, I was also suffering from a real lack of sleep the three weeks prior. (Not, "most likely," but "actually.") One day, we slept until nearly two in the afternoon, which, if any of you know me, you know is completely unheard of.

We did not, as Laura begged us, go to an olive plantation. We did, however, eat lots and lots of fried cheese, tzatziki, and various grilled meats and other lovely items. The sad part was that, well, the Greek food in my very own neighborhood--across the street--is better. But okay, the restaurant across the street from me is an expensive, upscale Greek place, and we found those restaurants, but couldn't really afford to eat in them every night. But--you can't beat the places we ate for the atmosphere, and the view. OMG, the views. I am not complaining. I was happy with everything--when you eat at the tourist restaurant, you get tourist food. I was just so glad to be doing something else for a while.

I'm going to write up the trip, of course. One thing about my brain that I find a little annoying is how I have to process everything via writing. So, while I'm laying in the bed at 3:00am having insomnia on Santorini and starting at the tiny blinking light on the wall, I have to think about what I might write about the tiny blinking light. I can't ever turn it off. Last night, at my grocery store, I walked past the Greek aisle and had a weirdo freak-out moment. Where am I? It was all again unfamiliar, and yet familiar. Having had that alphabet, those shapes, all around me for so long--and then here I was back in my real life, and there they were again. There's an image, I thought. (This reminds me of what I always tell people about writing, that having ideas is not the problem.)

Bless being on vacation. Bless being home.

Greece!

--Currently engaging myself in the anxiety of feeling unprepared for my vacation to Greece. We leave tomorrow. I found myself, perhaps foolishly, reading a little here and there on various travel sites about what to do and see, and, not surprisingly, became overwhelmed. Luckily, I am not one of those people who needs to do and see everything to feel satisfied. Whatever we do, fine, hooray, it's not work and it's not my regular life! Success!!

--I have been so out of it, so tired with show and syrup and work and such that I managed to get on the train tonight, headed to see my friend Jamie in her dance performance and whoops, I went to the wrong venue and thus missed it. Oh well. Sorry, Jamie.

--On my walk through the East Village, (on my way to the wrong venue) there were two places, two separate street corners, where huge dumpsters had been set out to accommodate all the NYU kids moving out of the dorms. Parents with cars were tossing stuff into them at one end, and people were fishing through them at the other. "Look, Brian," said one young woman, holding up a tacky fake chandelier, broken and dirty, "I totally won this in the lottery that is right now!"

--I haven't seen the new Star Trek movie yet. I am contemplating going to tonight's 11pm show. Okay, I've talked myself into it.

See you when I get back from Greece!!!!!

Things My Upstairs Neighbors Must Have Recently Acquired

-Trampoline.
-Pony.
-Bowling lane.
-Half-dozen semi-retired Irish step dancers.
-Chain-gang.
-Carpenter stilts for a two-year old insomniac.
-Visit from the Harlem Globetrotters.
-Landmines.
-Sack of Anvils.
-Night School of Continuing Education for Overweight Men Majoring in Jackhammering.
-Balrog.
-Living-room parking spaces for earth-moving machines.
-Semi-precious stone quarry.
-French Hotchkiss H-39 tank.
-New dumb insults which you scream at your wife in other languages.
-Large heavy objects that want to crash to the floor over and over.
-Even heavier objects that you thought couldn't get any heavier.

Backstage Ladies