Parables – Talking Pictures

Parable # 13: Callous youth

May 7, 2018

I didn’t get along with the art teacher in high school. Once he told the class, An artist needs to go to the studio every day, even if you just sweep the floor. And right away I thought, Fucker, you sweep that floor all the time. —Adam Simon [...]

Parable # 12: Encounter

March 26, 2018

I stared at the man opposite me on the A train. His face was strangely familiar and I realized he was having the same reaction to seeing me. We both got up and took hold of one of the poles in the middle of the car. We ran through the [...]

Parable #11: Coffee/Tea

February 18, 2018

Our last ride got us to somewhere on the outskirts of NYC, probably the Bronx. The guy who’d picked us up took us into a diner and ordered himself a coffee. I was shocked when my brother said he’d have the same. We’d always [...]

Parable # 10: Party at W. H. Auden’s

November 17, 2017

I was invited to a party at W. H. Auden’ apartment. Auden wasn’t there. A guy staying there was having the party. At some point the beer ran out and I went to the store with an older guy. We came across an enormous bug, staying [...]

Parable #9: Flow

September 4, 2017

I like my GP, Dr. Samuelson. I said, I’m getting up twice a night to pee. He said, What if I told you you [...]

Parable #8: Intimacy

June 29, 2017

My most intimate moment with another person occurred when Jake threw up in my [...]

Parable #7: Eric

March 8, 2017

Some people are unforgettable for the most trivial of reasons. Once when I was a junior in high school, Eric Schwartz stopped me in the hall and asked me a question. “When you shave, do you shave up like this, or down like [...]

Parable # 6: Walker

June 26, 2016

I took my 87-year old mother and her dog Jasper to Central Park. My mother inched along the pathway with her walker while Jasper and I chased a ball in the grassy parts. After a while my mother stopped to sit on a bench that had a few [...]

Parable # 5: Bowl

April 26, 2016

I came to NYC when I was 17 to go to the New York Studio School. It was a little crazy because the school was unaccredited and most of the students were much older and already had college degrees. The school had a gallery and cheap wine was [...]

Parable # 4: Busy

March 25, 2016

Back when industry first abandoned New York and there was a glut of available loft space, we rented what had been a tie factory in Hoboken for $300 a month. There was a business that made wire lampshades below us, and a garment factory above. I used [...]