Marilyn and my Meet and Cheese.


This collage just fell into place. Magic. 

we meet at Bryant Park

he wears a la coste shirt with a tiny pink pig undeneath an orange umbrella 


he needs to shop at Whole Foods

he talks to a woman encircled by trays, cases, rows and shelves of cheese

do you have wisconson cheddar ?

cheese?

excuse me"

cheese?

cheese. yes. cheese.

she goes off in search of  cheese.

she comes up empty. maybe she didn't even look for it and did something else. 

it was over there in the corner. the other day. when you served me.

I don't remember.

you did. 

a maybe manager man joins the party. 

cheese buyer shows the brand he wants on his phone.

we don't carry Boarshead. 

you do.

we don't.

do. 

he gets on the phone with the person he is shopping for. 

I tell him I'll be outside where people are eating cheese sandwiches across the street in the park. 


in the park, he asks me what I do. 

I say ... pretty much loaf.

what is this loaf?

loaf. l-o-a-f. don't do much of anything. 

oh. I don't know that saying. 

where are you from

Montenegro.

how long have you been here.

twenty years. 

I tell him it surprises me that no one in twenty years said loaf to him ... as in to say - slack off.

I don't think so. 

o you probably pretended you knew what it meant.

I don't think so. No.


he asks me if I paint. my shorts are splattered with colors.

yes. and thanks for noticing I wore my good clothes for our first meet. 

I'm not sure he knows I'm being sarcastic. 

he smiles and almosts laughs and shows he's got a tooth missing on the left side of his mouth. midway back.

he says he has older two boys and an eighteen year old his daughter who is about to go away to college in Wisconson. 

I say there's probably a lotta chesse out there. 

he says he has a meeting in a few minutes and has to get back to work. 

we exit the park. I pat him on the shoulder and he goes east and I go west.

I'm not sure if it went well. I think so.


a minute later - a text from him - he looks forward to us meeting again.


I went outside this evening round 7 and I saw 77 beautiful people in 27 minutes. just writin'.

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