poem
what’s your favorite form of art?
drawing and painting, not making music,
but enjoying it.
let the adrenaline run through my veins
and feel every nerve in my body, like an orgasm
feel like I’m surrounded by dragon mouth flowers
and sometimes feel like I’m part of El Tunel
maybe I’m just on an LSD trip
the chiaro-scuro effect makes those huming birds
seem like they are not here
or are they just images in my hands?
does time pass slower in Pluto?
NYC
what used to be st. mark’s is no longer existent, there’s now barely some suggestions of memories left behind. This place full of history, and things to tell, has now become sopisticated for all to enjoy and have a cup of coffee, or have some nice lunch at the Chipotle, or even get some groceries. what used to be controversial and actually stand for something has now been bought out, to be part of a clean and “safe” city. But by being safe, we might be killing culture, history and the inspiration of artists, the community of musicians, punks, squatters, activists, and hippies of a street that has so much more to tell then just the trendy people walking down the street. So now let’s take a look back:
- Right after WWII the lower east side was inhabited by many political movement participants and artists. This was due to the fact that the rent was cheap around that area, which later on attracted the students that attended Columbia and NYU. eventually these movements grew and people started having a sense of their own ideals, in which people like “the beat generation” and artists like Jackson Pollock and Dekooning evolved. The mixing of ideals and contra culture set the start of a community of artists and thinkers to come.
- Then the jazz musicians followed, and started the jazz wave.
- 60’s folk musicians then came along, such as Bob Dylan.
- 70’s the revolution of punk started, and bans such as The Ramones were often seen around, and were frequent at C.B.G.B’s venue.
-80’s artists like Basquiat gave art a more urban feel to it. (he lived at Tompkin’s park, usually frquented by heroin junkies today, most likely the only interesting place left in the lower east side)
- During the 90’s rent went up and many young people could not afford it, so they decided to stay in abandoned buildings which where never torn down, these people became known as squatters, and later on they were kicked out of these buildings. For a long period of time these squat houses were home to many people, but now there is only one left.
so who and what defines safety when is killing history and culture?
