- Bathroom // ?

static crossroads - Lower East Side // nyc 2006

I am walking upstairs. I am falling in love with these blue stairs. It is the fourth time..or the fifth or the one millionth that i walk them in my dreams. I arrive on the top floor.

The door is open. There are flowers everywhere on the floor

There is music loud. VERY LOUD. EXTREMELY LOUD

Its the Led Zeppelin song "Rock and Roll" playing

It definitely was the Rock and Roll period for both of us. I was wearing my half waisted leather men's jacket and he was wearing one ring on every finger notating one woman for every finger.I knew that all I had to do was to get undressed and walk straight to the bathroom to find him and find my peace.

And the morning after, all I had to do was to take a foto early am in the morning like the one above that was shot one early morning close to East Broadway street.

It has been almost two years that his house was not in a good condition. The bathroom was not fixed. The house was deserted just like the moments between us.

Year 2011. Friday December 9 //

sms SM: Come see my new house

sms GA: Bathroom?

sms SM: yes new

sms SM: "Its been such a long long time since we Rock and Roll" Carry me babe

sms GA: Yes it has been a long time. We can fix that

sms SM: Are you still writing?

sms GA: Will you still bathe me?

Am I still writing I questioned myself?

Is anyone still reading ?

? ? ? ?

It's been a long long time......

- Garia August

- Dark & Stormy

Smith & Mills Restaurant/ Bar nyc

And he left me alone

once again...

We are lovers he said

No we are friends I replied

No we are lovers he added again...

he left because I did not want to eat from his dirty hands...

hands that have touched another woman of flesh covered with an aroma different

than mine

intense emotions always with his presence around my aura

he left me

there with two

plates full of food

eating my empty but confident thoughts

no matter what

You are free

Garia whispered in my ears

He is the one who made you a woman

There are still two plates with leftovers

waiting for his return

at smith and mills

the food is cold

my heart is cold

but it is forever

yes there is a forever finally -.

A forever

Silence //

- Maria Garozi

- So Fully

*

My Forever One,

Not sure what day it is now.

I finally decided to write to you again after so much time.

Diego El Cigala is singing for us and the smoke of my cigarette is hiding the whiteness of my room. You once told me; "I do not want to be with you. I want to see you grow and this way be with you forever"

But I do NOT want to grow.

I remain at that first night that we carried that abstract painting together at your home and then started breathing for the first time so close to each other that the painting became a transparent unique color of the tranquil clear blue.

So often I wonder why the two souls of our spirits didn't manage to find shelter that night or so many other nights that I ran to you like a thirsty woman. Yes, thirsty I am for you my inspiration.

Tonight, for once I thought how beautiful it is that I have loved so fully.So fully that I am free now of myself.

I know by now that there are nights when you seat alone and read the first letter she had sent you the winter of 2007.

Winters come and go. Letters come and go.

Our love is here.

- Maria Garozi

-THE LETTER.

*

A letter sent by a woman

Received by a man

First page

Has the word

Hello.

Second page

Has a story from the

Past.

Third page

Has the

Truth.

Fourth page

Probably uncovers the biggest

Fear.

Fifth page

Is lost in the passion of becoming a

Writer.

Sixth page

Seventh page

Eight page

Ninth page leading to

Ten.

Eleventh page

A drawing of a ship and a sun

Symbols of their journey as one in her

Heart.

A letter sent by a woman

Read by a man

Is now hidden

So that it can never be opened again

For it screamed the truth people cant believe

The simplicity of the words I love you

Oh forgotten letter

The secret within their soul

Let your words appear to the man

Let him read you again

Before he sleeps

His eternal death

Loveless, rough and alone.

Or with HER -

December 2007

East Village, Apt 8R

- Garia August

- The Most Living is the Present

Woodstock 12498, NY

My Dear,

We came here together for the weekend with some friends. How nice this feels right now.I wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave New York for a mini escape. But waking up yesterday, I had the desire to jump through the window of my east village apartment and hover for the rest of my life. So, it seemed right to get in the car and follow the wind's cry.

The house is on the top of a hill in Woodstock. Its surrounded by ice, snow and trees. There are no other houses or any construction close by.We are covered by a silence that transcends through nature, through the waterfall, through the mountain reaching my soul in a space where I feel myself again after a long time.

Although there is such a silence everywhere out there, in this house the noise is never ceasing. So many people; who indeed make me happy knowing that they are around but still I long for some moments on my own to read,to write, to take a peak through the window of the mountain's solitude. I want to think of the present as the lady at the Tibetan Temple we visited earlier said. In Buddhism there is no past or future but only the present. That all there is and all we have.

I am now in a wonderful present alone and with E.M who just came upstairs to check on me. But for some reason this isn't enough. I keep going back to the past of the night I met again with the Silent Man.

I am in. now.

The door closed behind me smoothly. It is not even closed firmly but it keeps us safe. Nothing else exists now but us. There is no universe out there anymore in these hours. The universe is here within these walls. He is arriving from the bedroom. He is wearing a white comfortable outfit and a brown cardigan. Soft garments. Soft garments. The dog is looking at me in the eyes. He wants something from me and his look pre-announces that what he wants has not ending.

The man is finally here. In front of me. He glances at me roughly and innocently at the same time. I reach towards him and we hug. He moves on towards the kitchen. And then I lose him from the image.

I will run faster

faster than your shadow

Tears of solitude wet my agony

for where we shall meet again

It is here in this silent

hideaway full of others

that I dreamt for a moment of us again

- Garia August

- Simple Man. // Silent Man -

At some point of my life in New York, I happened to wonder what in life is forever. Does anything last forever? We don't even last forever...our mortal side at least... So I spent a whole day last year asking all those who I knew what was for them Forever.

My manager said "Nothing is Forever"

A friend asked me back "But isn't our friendship forever?"

and then at the end of the day I passed by the house of the 80 year old Silent Man, Antonio, on 7th Street who I realized is a Simple Man same like the other two.

80 year old Silent Man Antonio. East village, 2010

I looked at him carefully

his eyes with dry tears same as the ones he trained me to have

"Antonio, let me ask you this. What is forever?"

He paused. He knew I was making decisions. He knew I was changing.

He knew my question was more deep than its sound.

Few minutes later he replied:

"hold on. I will tell you what is Forever. THE BEGINNING IS FOREVER"

And then a memory appeared. The memory of the boy standing on 9th street. He is wearing his used green pants. He is fixing his light blue shirt and his hair while waiting for me to go meet him for the first time. I see him from across the street. He looks funny but sweet. He doesn't look forever from far away and thats why I could never believe that his love could be forever. But that beginning was forever.

"Yes, the beginning is forever", I replied to Antonio with a smile.

What is forever to you?

- Flowers of a July Afternoon

Union Square, 2010

1.

Flowers passing by around me

hawks that try

to built their root inside the chain

of the memory’s guilt

2.

Flowers that met

The cheeks of a Girl from Saigon

3.

Flowers that felt

The hips of a Girl from South Korea

4.

Flowers that he could melt

In one breath of a Woman from Cappadocia

5.

Flowers passing by around me

Doves that try

To built their nest inside the box

Of the memory’s innocence

6.

But they never arrived

And they shall never will

For the Sender needs a

Silent Man of their love

forever thus to be

- Garia August

Union Square , July 12th, New York 2010

-HIS CURE. (Second Version)

He closes his eyes
Silence~

Alone in the living room
Has a sip of his tea from three nights ago~

He is thinking of their first dinner at a table~

The young girl was looking down
I WANT TO BE WITH YOU forever she whispered
Afraid still to admit it
But her words were soft
and no one told her the man was deaf~

The food at the dinner table is cold now~

He drinks his gin from three nights ago
And then he drinks again
And again, and again and again
He drinks his silence~

Two weeks later
He brings a new dinner table at the living room
made of stones of another country
Of some kind of a weird new love affair he found
and desired~

He opens his eyes
Silence~

Alone in the living room
Has a sip of his tea from three years ago~

He is thinking of his new love and the new dinner table~

The young girl was looking down
I WANT TO BE WITH YOU forever she whispered
Afraid still to admit it
But her words are gone now
and no one told her the man still wants the dinner table of her love for him-

December 2007
East Broadway, Apt W R
(re-edited October 2009)

- THE IDEA BEHIND THE "SILENT MAN, A POEM"

For the past weeks, while Maria is working on her book project "Finding Eidothea", I have been working on a first draft & mockup for a book I am writing and will put together with a great artist who is going to do the illustrations.

The book is called "Silent Man,A Poem".Is the poetry diary of a girl who met the same man at his 40's, his 30's and his 80's.

The exploration of how love makes us weaker and stronger.

The dynamic forces between a mysterious Single Man and a Girl.

The creative forces between a boy who is trying to become a Man and a girl who is trying to become a Woman.

The dry memories of a man who had 5 unsuccessful marriages but shares a love of wisdom with a Girl.

In Reality

The 40 year old Silent Man is in Japan. I cant wait to show him the mockup.

The 30 year old Silent Man made his first dream come true and is starting a great career as an artist.I cant wait to be the silent viewer of who he is becoming and love him from afar.

The 80 year old Silent Man is home alone. I cant wait to visit him tonight after work and have a beer with him.

- Garia August

BICYCLETTE

Foto: 1st Roll nyc, Sunday August 15 2004

- LA BICYCLETTE.

La bicyclette vieulle was on Bleecker and Elizabeth
The basket had no flowers that night
He placed the girl on the bicycle basket
started paddling
Are you warm?
So warm that I can
cease breathing now happy she replied

No, as long as I am behind you on this ride
You shall never stop breathing

La bicyclette nouvelle is close to East Broadway
There was no basket at all last night
He placed the ego all around the new green bicycle
she had gone to get for him
started mumbling
Are you cold?
So cold that I can
cease breathing now sad she thought

No, as long as you are not behind me on this ride
I shall still continue breathing

Life is a straight line
Not bi-cycles as she believed
A phone call that was never returned
His biggest ally has always been; Julie
but Julie never knew how to breathe only his love -
Les pas des amants de Julie

- Garia August

East Broadway
October 2006
(Re- edited February 2010)

Garia's Memory of the Silent Man

-THE ENCOUNTER.

The girl’s hair is messed
Cheerful long curls dancing in the air
She is happy for her upcoming interview the next morning

Nothing in the menu seems familiar
She knows the dinner is for one
Still orders for two
Hero behind the counter
Starts preparing their first meal

The Man is seating on her left
Where does she come from he wondered
Do you need a friend?
Do you need a lover?
Are you the one who is going to save me?
ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS GOING TO SAVE ME?

He grabs his pen
It’s my first time getting inspired to write
But what I am doing feels nice
And starts writing silent notes to the girl
He was afraid to share his notes with her

The girl is seating on his right
What is he writing she wondered
Are you writing a poem?
Are you writing a note?
Are you writing a love story?
ARE YOU WRITING OUR LOVE STORY?

She grabs the menu
It’s my first time trying Japanese food
But what I am eating tastes nice
And starts giving silent bites to the man
She wasn’t afraid to share her food with him

-Garia August
Thompson Street 3/14/06
From the Silent Man Series