It was late afternoon The streets bustling with busy people Moving everywhere at once As calm and frantic as it needed to be New York City, so demure My senses buzzing, a knob I had to keep turning to zero Strangers' energies b o u n c i n g onto me Until I was a m u d d l e d cocktail with too much s u g a r Background noise I couldn't turn off Bubble gum under a table
I had a tendency to walk out of school mid day on tuesdays volunteering, civic duty, young thing that I was Taking the subway from 14th street and 2nd Getting on the L a nuisance, hitting the 5 all the way b e f o r e Brooklyn I vaguely remember walking past the chaos of the ferry Into open green space — Battery park
He was working I was bored My handsome Starbucks guy on shift I was 16 Not love in retrospect Just experiment, maybe Control for him He made a favorite, v a n i l l a bean frappé and I drifted to the public space All floor-to-ceiling windows sunlight spilling over white chairs, white tables Don't look too close…
I settled in, p u l l i n g my hair, waist-length drape, to one side tucking it b e h i n d an ear my thighs t o u c h i n g the chair — I hated that opened my book Some dreary classic probably, most likely Crime and Punishment I sensed shadow at 12 o'clock Peering up through ink lashes I see him His eyes holding me then moving to paper s k e t c h i n g…
Irony in Crime and Punishment
At some point he walked up and left the drawing My first impermanence And I felt dead inside
Layered Fragments, Becoming Whole 