The Muses by Andrew Sussman
In July 1966,
weeping and wailing was heard
from Cherry Grove to Corneille Estates,
even to Louse Point and Montauk,
and all the way to Shelter Island.
No taxis cruised, no paint was placed or flung
and St. Marks Place was paralyzed with grief.
“Subject matter is never a problem.
Words are like a field of wheat; my job
is to turn the wheat into bread.
Bakers are the opposite of
heroic but somehow sublime.
This work is not an expression
of mundane habit, I am
avoiding the void, depicting
the excitement of living,
bringing us to the abyss.
But I am involved in human life too
and I think, Barney, we should go
and have a drink right now –
and then no more dying!â€
~ Jeremy Freedman
Jeremy Freedman is an artist and writer in New York City. His photographs have been exhibited in Europe and the United States and have been recently featured in ‘Hothouse’, ‘Redivider’, ‘The Monarch Review’, ‘The Citron Review’ and ‘The Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review’. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in ‘Cartagena’, ‘Eclectica’, ‘Otoliths’, ‘The Wilderness House Literary Review’, ‘Orbis’, and elsewhere.
