RUDIMENTS, pt. 573
(something like john gilbert)
Sometimes people would
go to the docks along the
west side here, what I've been
talking about, but not that
many. It took a certain sort
of grit to understand what
this was all about.When a
regular person thinks of
New York, or back then
anyway, this wasn't any
part of what they'd think
of as 'New York.' That
was always pretty obvious
- then they'd get down
here and there'd be some
weird looks and wild
moments. Once or twice
I remember, my father
would drive in - back then
he was driving a 1960
Chevrolet, a full station
wagon, sky blue. He'd
have one of my little sisters
with him, usually. I guess it
was time off or something,
and he'd come maybe just
to make sure I was still alive.
Once or twice he did actually
locate me, and we drove over
to there because he wanted
to see the river stuff and what
went on. We pulled up there,
and goes right up to this hot
dog vendor guy, and they're
best buddies! Turned out they
were childhood chums or
something, from Bayonne,
hadn't seen each other in 20
years, and it all just went on,
including the hot dogs. He
was in his glory, and of course
had to introduce his kids, my
sister and myself anyway, and
go on all about family life and
stuff with the guy. I felt awkward
as heck, because this guy was
always around with his stupid
cart, right there, and now I'd
always see him and be seen as
Andy's kid, or something like
that. It was like a chip knocked
off my anonymity tile, and I
wasn't keen on that. But, it
passed, and yeah, I did see
him around some after that,
and maybe even I should have
taken better advantage of that
connection, but, like with my
uncle who worked down at Wall
Street, and whom I also ignored
this whole time, I was a creep.
-
I never took my father over to
the Villager either - which he
would have really liked, and
probably made friends and all,
with the cook guy Harry O,
and maybe even with Tre, but
I didn't want - again - all
that interference. Like I said,
I was sort of a creep about things.
Boy I always hated relations
with family, and it was always
the worst, my weakness, my
real abrasion point. If only I had
all this crap to do over again,
I'd probably do it all differently,
and my father and myself could
have, I'm sure, found some common
meeting point in that environment -
finally my own environment -
even if it just meant watching
the traffic, the waterway, and
the stupid hookers trolling
around. Ah, whatever.
-
I wrote a cool poem once, sort
of out of all these memories
and experiences : entitled
'Writing Is a Place To Live' -
The places I've loved no longer
exist / All that I dreamed of is
gone / The most decided of
moments has affected all things -
our pictures have changed with
the moment / The ruined cities
of America : Calumet City, when
it was a mob town with public
vice / That small place in
Cleveland, with its whiskey
and ice / The places I've loved
no longer exist. All that I've
dreamed of is gone / Certain
places were always a clue /
when we understood the name
of our quarry / the grand ballrooms
full of nakedness and a band /
Chicago, Baltimore, and New
York / Packed up places with
plenty of power / The places
I've loved no longer exist / And
all that I dreamed of is gone.'
-
At this period of time, overhead,
the Miller Highway was still in
place, colloquially called the
elevated West Side Highway.
It was old and crumbly, noisy
and uncertain, and kept a lot of
the place in shade and shadow
too. Giving everything the
appearance of a junk yard,
cast-off, place, it accounted
for a lot of the debris lying
around: abandoned trucks
and cars,often useful for the
previously alluded to sex-services,
people sleeping off their nightmares,
or having new ones, in the old trucks,
the rears of which were sometimes
mattress-lined and often housing
what used to be called derelicts,
drunks, addicts, and heavers too.
It was a fairly nightmarish vision
of a secondary Hell, even with
the hot dog vendors and the few
nearby eateries, for car traffic.
Eventually, one day, the crumbling
infrastructure just gave way, and
a truck came crashing down
from overhead. That was pretty
much the end of the overhead
highway - and over the next
some years it was dismantled.
-
The same sort of thing was in
place along the east side too, the
overhead highway (FDR Drive),
the trestles, and all the junk
underneath - but it was kept
better, portions were fenced, and
the proximity of the police station
kept a lot of official vehicles and
tow trucks and parked cop cars
and things around - plus the
very active fish market, back
then, kept it all very busy, and
lively, and vibrant, at all hours.
The fish market itself was an
overnight operation - you could
still get in a lot of trouble there,
and have plenty of adventures,
(of the same, all, sorts), but it
was just always, seemingly,
more tended to.
-
I met a guy there once; we were
sitting around a table, a friend
or two, and me, talking junk, as
we always did if we got the
chance, weird stuff no one else
cared about - Mendelsohn,
the composer, Delmore Schwartz,
the writer, Hart Crane, old New
York, who'd lived where, the
food and the bad about writers,
Rilke, Hopkins, even Rossetti
and Swineburne. It was like
we were brash and dumb enough
to have opinions on everything.
We even cared enough to verbally
wrestle over words and tenses.
Pretty strange. This guy with
my friend that day, Gilbert, John
Gilbert, I think it was, white haired
kind of, older than us by far, he
sat there, just sort of noodling his
coffee and occasionally taking.
I sure as heck didn't know much
about him at all - bit one of
these people with me, their father
was some big deal and they were
always hosting people or having
traveling writers and stuff stay
with them for little bits of time.
That's how he came to be here
this day. He was talking about
being in his late 40's, how so
much of his life has passed by,
how mostly he'd done everything
he'd ever wanted - travel, Greece,
Santorini, writing, and how most
of his youthful dreams had been
achieved, even a half-bit of fame
and how he was satisfied with
that too. We must have looked,
by contrast, rather crazed and
distracted to him, I realize now,
with all that 20-year old youthful
and romantic 'writer' stuff out of
our mouths. I guess 'jaded' would
be the good word for his approach.
He said some odd things : 'I once
dreamed I'd love to be 60. In the
old days that was about how long
you could live, if you were lucky.
My body's been good; I have the
mechanism - only been to the
hospital once, when I fell. Also,
one day I realized, we don't
have many dreams as adults
because, like I said, people used
to die much younger than they
do today. People died at 42.
They died young. I think I've
only found 2 other adult dreams.'
Something like that, as I recollect,
and it was all pretty strange,
especially in the place it took
place - that Villager hangout
place was becoming more and
more incredible to me, like a
psychologist's couch or whatever
else you get when you're head's
wired and being examined. It
was very cool. Typical of New
York City, the entire gamut of
everything else was right here -
you could range from crime and
violence to art and literary stuff.
(I guess that made it perfect for
a crime writer. Suppose). He said
we should keep away from normal
stuff, family and all, and try to
find ways to get by, whatever it
took. Then I remember he said,
'There used to be a saying among
writers - 'every baby is a failed
novel.' You can't roam or life a
life of deprivation, once all that
gets going.'
-
'People miss so much because they
want money and comfort and pride.
A house, and then a job to pay
for the house, and then they have
to get a car. You can't see anything
fro a car, it's moving too fast. And
then they want vacations - that's
their reward. Why not the life?
Vacations are second-rate. People
deprive themselves of so much
of their lives.'
-
Then, this final thing I can
remember, I really liked: 'I
think serious poems should make
something happen that's not correct
or entertaining or clever. I want
something that matters to my
heart - and I don't mean
'Linda left me.' I don't want that.
I'm talking about being in danger,
as we all are, of dying...'
Then, this final thing I can
remember, I really liked: 'I
think serious poems should make
something happen that's not correct
or entertaining or clever. I want
something that matters to my
heart - and I don't mean
'Linda left me.' I don't want that.
I'm talking about being in danger,
as we all are, of dying...'
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