Today a friend of mine arrived back home. Of course home for her is actually no longer NYC proper but an outpost of culture she's made and found in Austin, Texas. So, as she stood on a Brooklyn corner and typed her status to the world many of us laughed and chimed in at her unique New York moment. How many citites can really offer you a junkie looking for tattoo advice before noon? Not many, and of course, that's only half the story at best. As we say here, you gotta love it.

Another friend is also posting like hotcakes today, well rather his friends in this city are saying goodbye. His papers were wrong and although our local love of him is strong, the feds say it's time to head back to Istanbul. So with little fuss and with his characteristically  good mood, another friend is taking his leave and his famous party hat with him. We all expect we'll see him on the other side of the ocean and chances are, universe willing, I will.

 One in, one out, that's how you work it if you're managing people in an overcrowded room. Seems like the city has its policy that works as a mirror to this policy. One love in, one love out, love what's here and don't hold on too tightly. Let your friends be, let your people flow. Take nothing personally for loves will always come and go. 

 When living in the city feels like a stranglehold or maybe when something bigger shakes you from your tree and forces you to move on, it's always a process of letting go. There might be going away parties or no one there when you drop off the keys in the box, there might be quiet moments of appreciation where no words are spoken and you might find yourself staring in awe at all the people filing past you on a street corner. The city takes you in and the city lets you go. The city is more forgiving than the feds, of course, with their ideas of immigration and naturalization. I know that both of my friends are equal to me here in this city, this self-contained globe where country matters less to me than laughter or kind actions of support.

Today one comes and today another leaves. It's not a day for lamenting at all. It's a day for singing of all the loves that come and go and for all the inspiration and caring that stays with us despite our travels and separations. Letting go means someone else gets to say welcome home. Saying goodbye really holds the place for Until next time...! Goodbye, Hello, through the city grid we ebb and flow...and now all of my old poems really do feel like a lifetime ago.