September 30th

This is the last day. I am not ready for this to be over, and yet I am. Tonight I will attend a Gaslight Anthem concert, wake up leisurely in the morning, write in the afternoon at Four and Twenty Blackbirds (they have the most excellent pie) with Jacob and attend a New Yorker Festival panel involving Dave Eggers. Nowhere in that equation will I have to attend the Met, I will in no way be obligated to post anything on the internet. Although on Saturday I will be back at the Met with my friend Fawaz, who is visiting from California. I am going to be missing the Met already by then, I suspect.

Today was uneventful. I arrived early just as things were opening up. The Museum had very few visitors but there was a fair amount of staff moving and dusting pieces.  I walked around a bit, spending most of my time in Arms and Armor (where there is no seating, unfortunately) before writing in the medieval section.

Sakura (Prunus serrulata)

You laugh uptown. The man
we only know about now,
by your side with his American smile.
The white of teeth from a mid-teen bleach.

In photographs you are altered, 

no longer my twin by sight,

in that bed, hair shaved. 

eyes narrowed from lack of sleep.

Factors
Day of the Week: Thursday
Occupancy of the Museum: Empty
Arrived at: 9:30
Departed at: 10:45
Read on Commute: Finished Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath which I recommend.  

September 28th

On Friday Hossannah and I drifted into the Robert Lehman collection, a hodge podge of European decorative arts, Goya, El Greco, Botticelli Impressionism, post impressionism, enamels, and bronze. I had been there before, when part of the Atrium had been taken over for a special exhibit, however I had never ventured further in. I was a little surprised by the tone of the section, it is much less polished then the rest of the museum, and there really is no centralizing theme.  After doing a little digging I discovered that the  Lehman foundation donated close to 3,000 works of art to the museum and that his wing is supposed to feel like a museum within a museum. It is supposed to evoke the interior of Lehmans townhouse, and reflects his personal taste preferences. When it first opened the Lehman wing received mix reviews. 

I wrote on a sofa that would have seemed more at home in Starbucks and I must say it was a lot more comfortable then the standard issue Met bench. I could not help but notice that the vast majority of the visitors to this section were Eastern European tourists.

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)

Next to the stone,
        a paper crane, gifted
        folds, indented finger prints,

a signature felt by the palm of my hand,
      ledge of window,  light
      touches objects, grants them
      a momentary gold.

    


Factors
Day of the Week: Tuesday
Occupancy of the Museum: Not very Busy
Arrived at: 9:30
Departed at: 11:00
Read on Commute:  Cider House Rules (better) by John Irving, and Made to Stick (good) by Chip and Dan Heath

September 24

For the first time since this project began I actually have taken advantage of the 24 hour rule. I didn't leave the Met till 7:15 last night and chose, instead of rushing home and posting, that a nice quiet evening could be had.

I met the well dressed Hossannah Asuncion on the steps near a food cart named Cake&Shake.

We wandered around European Sculpture Court, paintings, the Kahn special exhibit, ending with Big Bambu. Hossannah was interviewing people, which was one of the reasons we traveled so much. It was such a great idea, she brought a recorder and asked questions about art, and connection to it.

Edited to Remove Poem: A revised version of this poem has since been published elsewhere. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Factors
Day of the Week: Friday
Occupancy of the Museum: Packed
Arrived at: 4:40
Departed at: 7:10
Read on Commute:  I finished The Structure of Magic (which was an excellent examining of language and therapy) by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, and A Week at the Airport by Alain De Botton (very disappointing). I just started Cider House Rules by John Irving (a favorite author of mine), it is pretty good so far.

September 19th

I was running late today due to the subway's weekend slowdown/scheduled repairs. I met Stephen Pause, the guest writer, on the steps of the museum. Stephen and I both went to Sarah Lawrence, where he was known by some "as the dead presidents guy." He has his MFA in creative nonfiction. Stephen had never been to the Met before. I love going to the Met with someone who has yet to experience it.

Since the Met is actually composed of 26 different 'structures' (most not visible from the outside) to get to different areas you sometimes have to go through the main entrance hall which connects to all three sections. You exit through guards and then after crossing the hall and passing ticket booths, you enter a new section past different guards. We visited the Egyptian wing first and were halted by a guard because Stephen had a tripod. He was informed that he could not wear it on his back and must carry it. He complied, and managed to take some good photos at the Temple of Dendur. Proceeding to the American wing we passed another set of guards. He was stopped again and informed that Stephen needed to get a free pass from the security desk to bring the tripod in. We went to the desk only to be informed that he must put his tripod in coat check because one was only allowed to have a tripod on Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday. Confusing.



We went to the American Wing in search of Washington Crossing the Delaware. However the room was under repair but we were informed that several pictures of Washington resided on floor 2A. Floor 2A ended up being Visible Storage, which I have not visited before. Visible Storage is composed of items that are not currently on display elsewhere, including; candlestick elephants, chairs, baseball cards, empty frames, A work desk from Tiffany and Jonathan Singer Sargent paintings. Everything is displayed in glass display cases, hung on these rippled metal white dividers. Because of the light and glass my photo's didn't turn out well but hopefully they will give you a bit of an idea. I really enjoyed Visible Storage, partially because it felt more honest and behind the scenes than other parts of the museum and also because some of the things they decided to display where wonderful while others could be found in your neighbors trash. I wrote while wandering between cases.



Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)

So clear this evening,
a new dusk. My body foreign

in a mirror. Cautious field
of skin, aware of Marie

one room over, my father listening
to the radio announcer describe

Mantle hitting a foul.
The door unlocked.

Anytime they could enter,
interrupt my changed form.




Factors
Day of the Week: Sunday
Occupancy of Museum: Crowded
Arrived at: 12:15
Departed at: 2:00
Read on Commute: I finished Provenance by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo, and I am nearing the end of Thunderstruck by Eric Larson (slow going at the moment).

September 10th,

The Met was very lively today. Fridays and Saturdays at the Met they have live classical music in the Balcony, starting at five, which adds nicely to the ambiance of the grand entrance hall, and almost gives the Met a festive air. I wrote in the Carrol and Milton Petris European Sculpture Court. There were lots of kids running around and a fair number of teenagers drawing the statues. It all made it a little hard to concentrate and I think that affected the work that I produced, which seemed to consist largely of doodles.


Pitch-Pine

We've tracked veins
back to fault

lines but blood
is unpredictable.

We share it
reluctantly, you and I.

This distant
sibling hood.



Factors
Day of the Week: Friday
Occupancy of Museum: Almost busy, very loud.
Arrived at: 4:50
Departed at: 6:00
Read on Commute: I finished Caring For Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, and read some more of Thunderstruck by Eric Larson,

September 1st

For my first day I wrote in the Florance and Herbert Irving Galleries of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia. To be specific I wrote the following poem, part of a series of tree titled poems, in the Astor Court (pictured above).


This poem has been removed for Publication




Factors
Day of the Week: Wednesday
Occupancy of Museum: Few lines, empty rooms, but the major galleries were fairly busy.
Arrived at: 1:25
Departed at: 2:55
Read on Commute: The Gardner Heist by Ulrick Boser
Tone of all writing produced(not just the posted poem): Melodramatic