New York City, February 4, 2013

★★ Litter cast monumental shadows in the low, strong morning sun, and in the hardly less strong reflected sun. A little bulge of shade lay on the downslope of a piece of flattened chewing gum; chunks of salt and broken bits of ice were interchangeably, translucently aglow. The schoolyard puddles were broken slush. The glare dampened social interactions, the faceless greeting the squinting. People hurried past people hurrying past other people, a constant overtaking. They came down to the subway platform flushed and ruffled, patting down mussed hair, agitated by the cold.