
From a friend's house no longer wanted.

From the street - placed carefully so that everyone passing would know it was up for grabs.

From an abandoned yeshiva summer camp.

From a long-lost cousin and painter in Moscow, smuggled to me in the late 1970s before Gorbachev and glasnost.

From a roommate who moved west in 1979.

From a neighbor. (The pillows were $2.50 each at a Church basement sale on 37th Street.)

From Florence's ex-girlfriend.

1. From Florence's other ex-girlfriend - a recipe from Florence's mother-in-law given to said ex-girlfriend one evening in 1947 at my parents' apartment in Knickerbocker Village. 2. From a temp job in 1978 - Mapplethorpe portraits of Lisa Lyon's biceps. 3. From a former boss in 1997, an internet joke of a meditation on killing someone to reduce stress. 4. Magnets from my roommate who lived here at 17 and has, in her forties, since returned.

*inspired by someone's Crate & Barrel's purchases as he re-emerges his home.