on thursday

we had a late breakfast at the corner diner (my usual, corned beef hash and eggs scrambled) and we took the E train up to fifth avenue to visit the all-important MOMA and see the mesmerizing Elizabeth Murray exhibit. there we met our dear friend stephanie strickland (author of Vniverse). we got complementary tickets because our friend kathy lawerence's daughter works there as an assistant curator, score! sounds geeky but only artists and poets would get excited about getting in free to a museum, especially the MOMA. after we wandered the contemporary exhibits, Nora joined us and she took us to the staff caff to have lunch. much less expensive and to think of the great artists who worked at the MOMA and sat there over a cup of expresso. Nora then took us to see the latest matisse painting in which she had a hand in researching during the aquisition. i had to not look too long at van gogh's starry night or be swept into monet's water lillys as we walked by. save them for another time. She also took us back to the contemporary galleries to experience the aural art of Janet Cardiff. very moving indeed.

by 4pm stephanie had to go and as we were about to leave, i decided to pop into the museum store. we bought a whole lot of cool, funky gifts for our friends. at the checkout line our biggest surprise of the day came by serendipity. we ended up at the cash register of a former student of denise's who gave us the 40 percent employee discount. score! stephen cramer is the author of the national poetry series award-winning book Shiva's Drum. we forgot he works at the MOMA. we knew he got married to a lovely woman but the big news is that they are packing up and moving to vermont by xmas. they have no jobs yet up there but they are young and eager. hey, if you know of any good teaching/adjunct opportunities in vermont, just email him: cramer.stephen@gmail.com he's an awesome poet, good teacher, and has his mfa.