I get bored a lot lately. I’m struggling with this story I’m trying to finish – I’d write continuously and just hit a brick wall. It’s infuriating. But then – Lent is coming, which means more time to sleep and be with the family in Bulacan. More time to write. Also, the boyfriend and I are celebrating five months today. That doesn’t sound too bad.
And I found this poem! Stunning. Boredom brings great things. Sometimes.
New York City as Temporal Measurement*
* This is not to be confused with the smallest measurement of time.
Hossannah Asuncion
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Policy mandates a period of 30 seconds for subway doors to remain open to allow for the flush of entering and exiting people. An observational study has shown, though, that the doors remain open an average of 12 seconds. This is enough time for two people in love to separate, but as was one instance on May 18, 2007, it is not enough time to reunite.
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You know you are close to the end when your train pulls into the station with droplets of rain clinging to its sides.
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Ways we successfully pass time from Manhattan to Queens, Queens to Brooklyn, Brooklyn to Brooklyn:
The NYT crossword puzzle (Wednesday).
Cat Power’s rendition of “Silver Stallion.” (Repeat as necessary.)
A game of “Who would you eat? Who would you fuck?”
If, by chance, you have a moment to love something, anything, with heartbreak, choose
to do so. Exercise, though, what is advised and advised and advised as caution—
consider the consequences of such seconds.
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Tapping the face of your father’s watch will not stop you from disappointing him today. You will do so again tomorrow. And the day after.
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Eliza Victoria 