Robert Indiana kept a series of illustrated journals during the late 1950s and 1960s, in which he discusses the development of his work as well as his daily life on Coenties Slip.

In his journal entry for March 29, 1962, Indiana records that the temperature was in the 70s, "a false spring," and that he spent the morning turning out some ink stencils, experimenting with a water-based transparent medium. He writes that he finished cleaning his loft by mopping the floor and had lunch before his gallerist Eleanor Ward arrived. He notes that she had a scotch, and then selected three or four rubbings as well as small paintings: Hexagon (Polygon: Hexagon), Triangle (Polygon: Triangle), Octagon (Polygon: Octagon), Joy, and Love (4-Star Love). He adds that she wanted more for the gallery, "but made no offer [to] take care of either [the] photographs or [the] trucking."

Indiana then records receiving a call from James Rosenquist, who reported on an article by Max Kozloff (misspelled Koslov) in Art international ("‘Pop’ Culture, Metaphysical Disgust, and the New Vulgarians") and that Kozloff had a negative attitude towards his work, but that he was not dismayed. Rosenquist also mentioned that the reproduction of Indiana's The American Dream, I (which appeared in the same issue, in the article "New York Letter") had come out well. Indiana writes that he then called his friend, the art critic Gene Swenson, to let him know, and that Swenson said he knew the writer.