Back when I had the loft,
I would walk down the back steps
into the endless back floors
and always discover new areas of my sublet
that I hadn’t yet taken advantage of.
So much raw space in East Harlem
– and for such a reasonable price.
Amazing!

It had taken me a while to get into this place,
but it really proved to be worth it.
I was glad I’d waited.
The main floor was kind of dumpy,
but going down these other floors,
they always had cool white walls that had been recently painted.
No work needed to be done.
Storage a’plenty.
Rarely anyone else around.
Performance space for whatever I wanted.
Heavenly.

Sometimes, I would find neighbors in these spaces,
and I worried about sharing,
but it never proved to be a long term problem.
The apartment remained mine,
and no one disturbed me in my solitude.

Really, East Harlem was a perfect place,
like a dream.