Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - City Facades - Ludlow Street - Between Rivington & Stanton.

I jump on my bike
on Hudson Street,
head east on Greenwich
Avenue, cross Sixth,
find myself on St. Marks
–––– then keep east.
At the park I bail, ditch
the bike, walk down
Avenue A, & embrace
the life I lead all those
years ago. Mid-twenties,
when all my friends
lived in the East Village
or knew someone
who was having a party
who lived in the East Village,
so we went there: East Fourth
between A and B, or east Fifth
/ between B and C, or East
Sixth / just west of A.
I’d let myself get too drunk
on whiskey and stay up late
and stand on rooftops
and wonder if my life
like an engine would ever
turn over and begin. I knew
how to get on the J, knew
how to hail a cab
and surrender alone
across the Williamsburg
Bridge toward Bed-stuy
or Bushwick at dawn.
Knew my address, knew
where I lived, knew
my name and age, knew
my height and weight,
and knew to drink water
before collapsing into bed,
but still had no idea how
to come home.