ROBB TODD

Someone actually let me have a book. My first collection of fiction is on sale. You can even enjoy a Kindle edition.

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© 2012 Robb Todd

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    I ALSO HANG OUT HERE

    OTHER PEOPLE'S STUFF

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    37 posts tagged subway

    From what cause I, of course, cannot say.
    Of course, from what cause I cannot say.
    Of course, I cannot say from what cause.
    From what cause, of course, I cannot say.
    I cannot say from what cause, of course.
    From what cause I cannot, of course, say.
    From what cause I cannot say, of course.
    I cannot say, of course, from what cause.

    WE WILL NEVER DIE JUST YET

    This is important (and do not ever let someone who is successful at life tell you otherwise): There is a building near my office that was used as an exterior shot on a famous sitcom about a group of friends. It has been off the air for almost a decade but the show is syndicated. Tourists stand on the corner and take pictures of it. All day long. The show was not even filmed in this city. This is our culture. Tourists. Photos. All. Day. Long.

    I took two pictures of food today. I do not have a healthy relationship with food nor money but I get along with liquid fine.

    Remember when we saw the plane writing in the sky?

    The approaching train sounded like lasers. On the train, a man with a torn jacket said to a little woman wearing a red coat, “Excuse me, miss. What day is it?”

    She pulled her earbuds out. “Friday.”

    He said thank you. At the next stop, he said, “One of these guys should give you a seat.”

    She could not hear him. She had her earbuds in again.

    “They should give you a seat!” He had an unopened can in his pocket, something to drink. “Is this 59th street?”

    Another man said, “When it stops, bro.”

    The man with the torn jack held out his hand with the cross dangling. “Could you spare a quarter?”

    Outside the gym, a man walked past wearing green jeans. Does that mean anything to anyone any more?

    Inside the elevator to the gym, a woman told another woman that she has a student whose name is pronounced “shu-thead” but it is not spelled that way. It has an I and no dash. The other woman laughed and said she has a student named La-Dasha, spelled La-Dasha, with a dash.

    Inside the gym, a sweaty man wore a T-shirt that said, I HAVE DOUGHNUTS AT HOME. The view from the yoga studio is sick.

    Outside the gym, two giant dump trucks stopped for a little old lady jaywalking with a cane, a pile of dead Chistmas trees near a no-parking sign. A blind man in white fur coat stood on the corner, tapping things. A little girl with a pink, rolling backpack stomped down the sidewalk making angry noises.

    Relationships, my life, my feelings blahblah I do not know how it is for other people.

    DUCK CONFIT BURGER, AVOCADO MILKSHAKE

    German and Thai and Italian all at once on the train and I wonder where the Spanish has gone. There is always Spanish in this constellation. We live in a society whether we like it or not. Look it up. 

    This conductor cares about his job and the people he serves: “Have a beautiful evening and a warm and cozy weekend.” 

    After midnight there are fewer people out who do not understand how a sidewalk works. A woman near the curb trains her dog to sit. Her men probably do not understand why she has so much control over them. 

    The lady holding my arm says, “There are really good dogs out tonight.” There are many of them all at once, lifting their legs, some small, some hairy, some large, men and women with blue plastic bags over their hands picking up poop. 

    She woke me up this morning by punching me in the back in her sleep. She did not punch me the night before. The night before that she punched me in the chest. The night before that she punched me in the face twice. She has bad dreams. She dreams that I cheat on her and that I try to give her genital diseases on purpose and sometimes she punches me because of things other people do to her in her dreams.

    It is all okay, though. I like the way she walks up stairs and I appreciate the way she bends over on the bed to turn off the air conditioner. We do lots of fun things together.

    A limo driver crushes an orange parking ticket in his fist and throws it on the ground next to his black stretch (license plate: SH ZAAAM) and does not get a ticket for littering and I drop a ten in a tip jar by mistake and dig it out.

    “Yeah, right, man!” 

    A friend sends a photo to my phone of a happy woman with “What you think about her?” Big smile, looks honest. Usually a good sign. But I am a sucker for a nice label. That is how I buy my wine. And I do not know shit about wine.

    Dip into a spot for quick dinner. Duck confit burger and an avocado milkshake, pass on the sweet potato fries. Unheard off, right? RIGHT. You will never find this place and I am not telling, and she and I bounce to a rooftop party in a nice neighborhood on a nice evening. 

    “I would totally come up here and look into apartments all day long. But you never see people having sex and, let’s be honest: that’s why you look. We do our parts” — he points to the woman next to him — “and leave the blinds open.” 

    He winks and asks for a lime to plop in his gin and tonic and all the citrus that is left is a used slice. 

    “I don’t think it was sucked upon. I think it was just squeezed,” I say. 

    The bottle of wine with the best label is almost empty and I pour it all into a glass. I swirl it and sniff and dab my tongue in it a little. Hints of grape and notes of alcohol. It tastes great. 

    A woman with an accent that is hard to place tosses a scarf around her neck and announces to the table: “I want to be a dolphin-trainer trainer. But I don’t want to be too famous.” She says if she was a drug dealer, this is what she would tell boys who got in her face: “Get outta here before I make your girlfriend pregnant!” She snarls and laughs. 

    The conversation switches to poop. 

    The lady holding my arm says: “My poo game has been really good lately. I’ve been impressed. Usually when I wipe there’s nothing even there and I have to ask, ‘Did that really happen?’ And I check the bowl and it did.” 

    The dolphin-trainer trainer knows how to say “drop the kids off at the pool” in five languages and does so. Impressed. She says German is the sexiest language even though she does not speak it. 

    Back on the sidewalk, stumbling home. 

    “If you love me, you’ll collapse on the ground right now.” 

    The lady on my arm collapses. I collapse. People step around and over us all at once. A man leans into our view and says, “Excuse me. Sorry. See that tree there?” We tilt our heads but do not sit up. He says, “It’s like a BIG little tree!” He points. “All the way. All the way into the ground!” He points and points. “All the way. Look!” He points. “A big LITTLE tree!” We do not look. He smiles and shakes his head. He stares at us and we stare back and he says, “Okay, thanks,” and walks away.

    The sky is large above and she holds a fly swatter so big she swats stars. 

    [Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

    Walking up 1st Avenue from 9th Street to the L train at 14th Street on Sunday afternoon.

    10 Plays

    No tokens

    A bicycle ran over me on my way to the airport and a car crashed into the bike and a train slammed into the car and a jet crashed into the train and my flight was canceled.

    YIN-AND-YANG YARMULKE

    THE LLLLLLLLLLLlll. TRAIN

    JALAPENO-TEQUILA HARD CANDY

    Flames on his arm and a star on his neck. In her sandal: six lady toes. Counted them six times to be sure. Bless you to an old man after he sneezed and he smiled and said thanks and that is a weird things humans do: bless you. Her toes were on her hands.

        * Approximately 10 jalapeno peppers, with seeds
        * 1/4 cup water
        * 369 gallons tequila
        * 1-1/3 cup white sugar
        * 3/4 cup white corn syrup

    Cat on a leash in the park. Legalize graffiti (only the good tags). Boxes of diapers in both his hands. “Let sleeping fish die.” Right? Little girl almost fell down the steps but braced herself on a stranger’s leg. Eat the Rich T-shirt. Someone will get rich off of that.

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