New York City, August 7, 2014

★★★★★ The air was not so much blowing as loose all around. The river was deep blue under a clear sky, the sun sharp and bright. Misplaced priorities and tactical errors kept the afternoon’s beauty as a thing half-noticed out the windows, till the commuting hour arrived, the perfection of it sharpening the regrets and then immediately putting them away in the drawer. A man stripped off his shirt and changed into a t-shirt as he walked down Lafayette, barely breaking stride. The countdown clock for the uptown 1 was making false claims, and when the train pulled in it was a lobster tank of compacted frustration and resentment. Impossible and not worth it. Time to write off the platform wait as another sunk cost and get up onto Broadway, in the light and air again. A boy played the open-air video game on the wall of the Museum of Biblical Art. People were on benches and outdoor tables and the reflection-bathed plaza of Lincoln Center, making as much of the moment as they could.