Mark Phillips' Pages: Workbook: 6/16/12: Then without warning the police sweeps are gone...

Jacob Lawrence, "Street Scene" (1961) — Jacob Lawrence, *Street Scene* (1961)

June 16, 2012:

Then without warning the police sweeps are gone, and regulars reappear.

Thin woman, cropped gray-blonde hair, multiple piercings. Very drunk. Swishing on the sidewalk, singing loudly, "Tieeeeed, to the whipping post... Tieeeeed to the whipping post... He left me tieeeeeeed to the whipping post..."

Veers right, wanders into traffic, announces, "I'm going to kill myself. Gonna kill myself. I can't handle this fukkin shit." Veers once more, passes me in the other direction, is lost in the crowd.