After moving out of their loft, Mapplethorpe and Smith stay living in walking distance of each other. Mapplethorpe moves into the loft Wagstaff buys him on Bond Street, in a formerly industrial area that incoming artists "scrub, clear out, and scrape the years from wide windows and let in the light" (213). Smith shares an apartment with Lanier, who seems to always be on the road with his band. Though they live apart, Smith and Mapplethorpe resume their lives "as before, eating together, searching for assemblage components, taking photographs" (214) and encouraging each other's progress. Smith gets a part-time job at the Strand Book Store while Wagstaff, to the detriment of Mapplethorpe's pride, supports Mapplethorpe financially.

Living alone, Smith feels unsure of how to proceed. All of her artistic ideas seem "irreverent or irrelevant" (214) and she wants to do "something of worth" (214). Andy Brown, owner of the Gotham Book Mart, gives Smith a chance to do that by offering to publish a book of her poems. Mapplethorpe, meanwhile, has his first solo show of Polaroid photographs. He makes his own invitations for the event: "a self-portrait, his naked midsection in the mirror" (215) with his Polaroid camera covering his crotch.