Compartment C, Car 193 (1938), by Virginia Barrett

Compartment C, Car 193 by Edward Hopper (USA). 1938.

Compartment C, Car 193 (1938)
​
            "Rock-poster artists such as Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley, Victor
             Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, and Wes Wilson generated an exciting
             array of distinctive works featuring distorted hand-lettering and
             vibrating colours . . ."
                                            de Young Museum, “The Summer of Love Experience”

A green compartment of varied shades. She reads the script,
takes   little  notice  of  the  space.  Midnight  blue,  her  dress
matches her hat. The  brim swoops over her face concealing
her  eyes, but no one needs to see  her eyes, they are on the
page. She is 

alone,  solitude  the muse for now. Where is  she going? The  
sun  sets   in   the  rectangular   window;  darkened  hills,  an
arched bridge over its  own small  river. White snow  on the
side, white  as  the  page  she  reads. The  play will  never be
produced. Maybe she will choose 

the   script  still on  the  seat  beside  her.  The  script  of  her  
parallel  life. He might have painted her as a dancer doing  a
striptease  across the  stage,  breasts flung  forward, nipples
red as cherries  ready to  be picked. Or a  woman  staring at
her polished fingernails, red 

too, in an all-night diner  where  the  cook and the  man she  
just met  talk  eternal  baseball. They  will never  know  who
wins. On  a  closer  look  they  are  not scripts she  reads but
pamphlets by Swiss chemist Dr  Albert Hofmann. Seeking  a
blood stimulant, he is 

the  first  to  synthesize LSD. She has a rare  disease slowing
her   circulation.  This  made her  parents  overly  protective;
despite  her  stylish air, she is  painfully  shy.  She  will  never
try LSD, dying  before it becomes widely distributed  but her
daughter will. Her daughter will 

be an  artist in  San Francisco who uses psychedelic designs
to promote  rock shows at the  Fillmore. Men will  dominate
the market, but her daughter will possess a strong drive and
a   flare  for   colour   no    one     else   can    match.  Here  in
Compartment C a man is about 

to  enter.  He  will use  a  line  from  a  movie to  engage her.
When  she  looks  at him  she thinks of  Errol  Flynn in Robin
Hood and  is  smitten. The  pamphlet  falls  from  her  hands.
The  shade on  the  window   is  lowered. The  canvas  goes
slack, all 

the muted tones become intense, and intertwine.  

Virginia Barrett

Virginia Barrett’s work has most recently appeared, or is forthcoming in The Writer’s Chronicle, Narrative,  Poetry of Resistance (University of Arizona Press), New Mexico Review, and Forage.  She received a 2017 writer’s residency grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of Taos, NM. Her chapbook, Stars By Any Other Name, was a semi-finalist for the Frost Place Chapbook Competition sponsored by Bull City Press, 2017. She holds an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco and a MAT in Art from Rhode Island School of Design.