We ate well...

He made gazpacho for their first date.

They're losing their minds, but they've earned it.

Our malls and nuclear weapons are showing their age.

A tragedy of manners?

Summer festivals, sponsored by big beer.

Why wouldn't I want to lick her armpit?

Do folks still carry mug money?

I'm proud to give my zip code to merchants.

Are George Bush and Tom Cruise on parallel paths, becoming more unreachable by the moment? Can folks across the globe tell the difference between them?

Things I should be well over by now...

Men accomplishing things on hot days

Ideally if you see me I'll be wearing my new peach and rose striped Le Tigre shirt I rescued from the clearance rack at Lord and Taylor.

Lost: line that would have been perfect here. Last thought on Metropolitain Ave, near Havemeyer, in Brooklyn. Something important: about you, about us. Reward.

Overheard 2

I had Runts for breakfast.

That was the gluten talking!

Dewey decimal this

Collections of essays about celebrity eating disorders.
Books about how Helen Keller was really a bitch.
Fraudulent holocaust memoirs.

Word/Quote of day

Word-
Cunctator. n. A procrastinator. "If you weren't such a cunctator, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Quote-
"(A)nd like all other clubs it's defined as much by its gate crashers as by its blueblood members."
from Dale Peck's 'Hatchet Jobs'

Elaborate Electronic Tombstone

Friendship is the thing that most makes me regret that life ends.

It'd be cool to form a band called The Gay Faggots.

The Chinatown Ice Cream Factory banner is looking ragged these days.

Travel

Phone banks at airports and train stations--their proud, lonely formerness.

Like most, I treasure every passing acqaintanceship. I wish I could name them all. The men I've traded papers with. Etc.

Funny how that works

Everything is everything.
Nothing is everything.
Everything is nothing.

This way

A headline in the Voice reminded me that this is one of my favorite poems. It's been over a year.

Key Food

Who doesn't love to see firemen tromping through the produce section, the frozen food aisle?

I'm always getting my ass kicked in conveyor belt showdowns. Look at what she's got: hommos, jarlsberg cheese, soymilk, looza nectars, berries, carr's table water crackers. What do I got: raisin bran, popcorn, ramen, catfood. And I don't even have a cat.

Get dressed

"Clothes horse" is usually a criticism, but it doesn't have to be. It should refer to someone who dresses in in a way that kicks up dust, a way that tunes the crowd into the possibilities of grace.

Art shows I recently missed

1) Jean-Michel Basquiat
2) Diane Arbus
3) Cy Twombly

I can't tell

I don't ask very much of you.
Or I'm asking everything of you.

There are so many

Important like shooting stars

Oasis

I can never find that stand near Wall Street with the cheap, artfully made-to-order fruit plates. ("Fruit Salad" always sounds wrong.) Next time I get there I'll write down where it is and let you know.

Proposal

How about giving credit to people who follow through on the urge to throw their phones into the ocean?

Declarations

You can be too well-groomed.

Sandwich cravings are usually very specific.
(Big Mike's Super Subs, Lenci's Deli, Hungry Head...)

That one

I recognize her from the day camp I never attended.

Let's not forget what we are

I complain when bathrooms aren't filthy enough.

Greetings from Tank Top Town

Come-on:
What you got under that?

This summer I'm looking to "exude a relaxed vitality," like playwright John Patrick Shanley does, according to USA Today.

Magazine rack blahs.

L.A.

Tinted windows tint your whole outlook.

It's fun watching girls cry!

Sure, when things aren't going smoothy I'll fire off a "Do you know who I am?"
but in a more plaintive tone than the celebrity version.

Sure, now I'd like to order that Canadian prank compilation, but I haven't seen it advertised lately.
Infomercials we miss.

What is Walgreen's saying when they announce over the loudspeaker, "Code 1 at the pharmacy, Code 1 at the pharmacy"?

We'll stare as intently at ugliness as we do at beauty.
Not the same intent.

Stories of bad decisions and enemies are more fun to read but less fun to live.

I need to work on embracing my destiny, like they recommend in the superhero movies.

Ideas you can run with

Essay: Middle-class crack experience. Buy it, smoke it. I'm sure it's not as addictive as we've been lead to believe, and is probably fun, in the right context.

Book: On Regional Rivalries. Examples of how and why people resent the neighboring town or state. Could be called: "On Shelbyville."

Bionic, man

We've fetishized the concept of the fetish.

Distracted, but from what?

I'd miss these outdoor subway platforms.
Any type on the other side seems moreso.

You and your photo essays.

Every word is a lie.

Oh-
No more using high school as an excuse.