“He gave me his cold.” 

“What’s your greatest struggle right now?”
“Fear of my writing. Sharing my writing, in particular.”
“Will you email me something you wrote tonight?”

“Less Fear” By Sade Johnson 

America take rest
I was born No poet
Born laces to television archaic computer lemming games
Walmart target home depot banks 

Big man take rest
I was born No lover
Born sage-less wise cracker
Abandoned lot mower for petrified native broken horn blowers

Savage take rest
I was born No tin man tight vested slave author
Born on No Puritanical pilgrimage not Lord wrought No Kings vestige 

Youth take rest
I was born a silver-tongued tight fisted counter daughter
Fire starting ageist hippy
Empty gun waving barbiturate sipping
Anti- nun

I take rest
I was born No fool

“You look kinda like Ernest Hemingway.”
“And we’re both from Key West.”
“You’re from Key West?”
“Well, I used to smuggle coke out of there.”

Seen in Washington Square Park

“We just got back from the prom.”

“Did you have dates?”

“Um, yeah.” 

“I’m sketching out my next film.”
“What’s it about?”
“It’s sort of a romantic Jurassic Park. Except the dinosaurs have jetpacks.”

“Don’t lie about something before you’ve given it a chance to become true.”

“Pounce?”

“It’s to remind me to be more aggressive.”

“There are so many bodies that I want to paint.” 

“When you yell at someone, who hears it more: you or them? You’re only hurting yourself by getting angry. I want to live to be 100. I haven’t raised my voice in 40 years.”

“What was your first impression of America?”
“I wondered why everyone was rushing.”

“My Foster Dad told me that if I didn’t tell anyone, he wouldn’t hurt my brother. But then he raped him.”

The man in the top hat was rapping for tips. When someone made a donation, he’d ask their name, then build a rap around their name. When this boy walked by, however, he gave him a rap, free of charge: 

“Damien, listen,
Mom and Dad will always be your best friend.
You got a problem that’s about to take you over?
Take it,
and put it,
on Mom and Dad’s shoulders…”

“What’s your greatest struggle right now?”
“Building a fence in my back yard.”
“Oh c’mon.”
“I’m serious. I married my best friend, I live on the Atlantic Ocean, I’ve played music my entire life. But this fence is giving me trouble!”

Someone named Christopher Russo just posted this on my Facebook wall:

“Hi I love your page a lot by the way I am a hero because I saved someone that got stuck in a subway train door please share this too so that everyone knows I am a great person.”

When I clicked on his profile picture, I saw that he’d won several medals in the Special Olympics. So it seems that not only is Christopher a hero and a great person, but he’s also a great athlete. Here’s your post, Christopher. You’re awesome.