NYC~~Roosevelt Hospital!~~stranded at 3 a.m.~~meeting you~~a white blanket over bare arms~~and keys in hand~~Hotel Henry Hudson, room 955~~follow guy from elevator~~posters on walls~~dark and strange~~suspension of time....







breakfast in cafe~~raining in the city~~buttons and books in store windows~~Kool cigarettes~~table by window, framing city people in the rain~~coffee from a vending machine~~quiet talk~~"i feel like i have known you all my life"~~"come live with me in New York"....






locked out of room~~to Canary's~~walking~~flourescent flowers sprawled upon dirty storne walls~~hang-up at door~~strawberry creme soda under a red light~~huge eyes staring from across the room~~mutual discovery in chewy nougats~~Cyrano de Bergerac~~other revelations~~but too serious~~time flashing on sign down the street: time to go.......






other bits and pieces: lighted twin towers gleaming golden from Charlie's apartment window~~running barefoot in your grey shirt at 2 a.m. to see you at work~~taxi rides across town~~Picasso's portrait in pink and blue~~sparkling burgundy and a warm bath~~red bikini panties~~English muffins and crackers, fruit salad and french fries, cokes and coffee~~room service calls to pharmacy: click...click...click.......






Dreams...come back in November..."live together"..."we'll be lazy together"...Plaza Hotel for a week..."maybe Thanksgiving"...a very special place and a hot fudge sundae with a cherry on top, melting..."you're so much like me".....






to the fountain~~night in New York~~dungarees and sweatshirts~~conscious of my youth~~you whistle~~down sidewalk past small group quietly talking~~you, carefree, surefooted up the side to sit atop and view your fountain~~standing beneath you, my hand on the cool curve of a stone ram's horn~~trees of exaggerated green under city lights~~looking up, black-violet behind you~~the Plaza Hotel seen through sprays of water droplets~~a long-haired girl, wading, smiling......sad beauty in things, in you........Rosebuds the color of sherry, a card a letter~~a web-footed messenger with pink surprise package~~and always "with love"..................


















[seems shorter typed out than it did hand-written--much more detail of interest around the above--like the hang-up at the door to Canary's apt. was some young black guy holding a knife to my neck trying to scare me------Charlie was old black guy who had yellowed and bloodshot eyes who i figured supplied Jimmy with drugs of some kind (charlie had a (red?) beaded curtain in his place)---i rode in the back of the ambulance to get there--huge staring eyes in Canary's place were from one of those commercial paintings of the little kids with great big eyes---etc..........yikes...........i really did all that.........






i must have been crazed in retrospect!! dangerous, wild times, but i didn't feel crazy then---running barefoot(!?) in the street at 2 in the morning(?!) (Jimmy worked the night shift as an ambulance attendant at the hospital--that's how i happened to meet him--and he offered me a place to stay since i had no where to go that time of night after my ER scare--they took the gunshot wounds first, leaving me til very late in the game--he gave me a white blanket and the keys to his room where i could go until he finished his shift first thing in the morning--i was going to leave by bus the next morning but stayed for several days............)






as i reread now i can see how the recorded written flow was a little inconsistent --- and i think there was another piece not here, with the image of a red candy box, fluttering to the ground from someone's apt. window across the way (not sure what i did with that sketch)----any time there is a quote above, they were Jimmy's words, not mine....i was along for the adventure (to feed my writing instinct?)---his last name was Arrant (how appropriate--errant)----rosebuds and messenger came after i had returned home......and of course, there was much more..........and Shakespeare on Henry Hudson Hotel stationery -- w. 57th st. and it's dated, so it was '67 --- and "Farewell, thou are too dear for my possessing, etc: ....the charter of thy worth gives thee releasing.... ...for how do i hold thee but by thy granting?...... ...thyself thou gavest, thy own worth then not knowing .........thus i have had thee , as a dream doth flatter, in sleep a king, but, waking, no such matter"............................how funny that it ended about the same time of year that it is now, all those years ago........]