My DiaryLand Diary

2005-04-21 - 10:16 p.m.

The Harp and the Obelisk
There's a strange tableau in the living room window of a privately-owned brownstone one block west from my apartment. I pass it every night, and wonder about it's people. The address is 173 E. 94th Street. Dramatically visible from the street is a maybe seven-foot tall dark wooden harp, and a perhaps nine foot tall very severe metal obelisk, both backlit in buttery yellow light from the apartment as the street outside grows dark. I can't stop thinking about that visual - this summer on some sultry hot afternoon on a day off I will have to write some short story or fairy-tale and call it The Harp and The Obelisk.
Here's something - once, hiking near Bear Mountain with my brother, we came across part of the trail that led across an abandoned railroad track over a river. I got just so far, and had to back off on my hands and knees, to avoid looking down between the open wooden slats to the water below.
Also, my bf Peter and I had our first meeting hiking atop the cliffs of the Palisades. He stood easily at the very edge of a rock, but I had to s-l-o-w-l-y edge away from the overhang, as I remember having this sinking feeling in my stomach.
Yesterday, I tripped over a pillow the German Shepherd Dog had tugged off the bed and left on the bedroom floor, and went flying into furniture, ending up with massive aching purple bruises all down my left hip and leg. Of course there was that small incidence three years ago of me taking a leap over a puddle and falling splat on my face and breaking my nose. Yup, this is who I am, all the grace of an elephant, but imagining otherwise. After all, I did do well taking dance classes some years ago, and, although I may seem afraid of heights, I am insanely happy atop the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island, the fastest wooden roller coaster in existence.
So, this week, to shake up my life, I have done a brazen, nervy, challenging thing. I have signed up for two hours on a flying trapeze, at sunset, down at the Chelsea Piers here in New York City, on May 9th. Me! Clumsy me! I am so-o-o-o excited!