It's Not Such a Bad Thing After All

I spent a lovely Sunday in Brooklyn, although you are just hearing it about now because I don't have a computer at home so I scrawl everything in a spiral notebook the old-fashioned way and type it whenever I have the opportunity. It took me an hour and a half to get there, but it gave me plenty of time to observe people on the subway and think about what it may be that I want to do next. And, it worked out in the end, because Elizabeth drove me home and we listened to Los Super Elegantes in the car and looked at the skyline of Manhattan at night and that, my friends, is a beautiful thing.

There was a tourist on the subway who was trying painfully hard to fit in, but to accomplish this unfortunate aim he chose to don a velvet blazer and a pink pique polo (say it 10 times fast!) with the collar straight up. Straight up. When I finally got to Park Slope, I faced a wardrobe miscalculation of my own, as I was wearing a late-spring poncho when I should have stuck with an early-spring wrap instead. And, of course, there was nowhere to buy a sweater because it's Brooklyn. It's great because it's cheap or something. The Tea Lounge had the Singles soundtrack blaring, and it felt like someone turned on the "way-back machine" in there, in a good way.

Anyway, it was a great day, and it reminded me of a poem I like to read when I'm feeling sort of aimless. It's from Guru Punk by Louise Landes Levi, a poet who sort of riffs off "established" styles in the Buddhist/Beat tradition from a modern, feminine perspective:

MEDITATION

I
suppose I really
should be out defending
human rights somewhere/feeding
the hungry (apart from my
street offerings to the
homeless people),

somehow improving the
condition of the world/ but
then, it's not such a bad thing, after-
all, to take a peaceful walk down
14th Street, in NYC, listen-
ing to the way the people
talk here & looking
around,

"THIS YEAR I'M GONNA HIT
ST. VALENTINES DAY
WITH A PASSION"

he said on
Avenue

A