 Noe Valley, by Matthew Rackham Barnes (USA, b. Scotland) 1943 Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king. J.R.R. Tolkien You’re ashes of angels, whispers of light, heavenly shine drenched in night, you rise from the shadows like fire, as if galaxy, nebula, star, you wander Noe Valley with purpose, heart’s blade your compass not scar, divining your path with alignment, divination sparks hazel wood’s glow, like prophet you carry love’s calling, gathering dawn as you go, radiance brightens ‘round corner, at long last renewal is found, displaced nor broken no longer, reunited with kingdom and crown. Jeannie E. Roberts Jeannie E. Roberts has authored six books, including The Wingspan of Things (Dancing Girl Press, 2017), Romp and Ceremony (Finishing Line Press, 2017), Beyond Bulrush (Lit Fest Press, 2015), and Nature of it All (Finishing Line Press, 2013). She is also author and illustrator of Rhyme the Roost! A Collection of Poems and Paintings for Children (Daffydowndilly Press, an imprint of Kelsay Books, 2019) and Let's Make Faces! (author-published, 2009). Her work appears in print and online in North American and international journals and anthologies. She is poetry editor of the online literary magazine Halfway Down the Stairs. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, you can find her drawing and painting, or outdoors photographing her natural surroundings. ** The Crossroad at Noe Valley The sun has risen but no one lingers under the streetlight burning. This used to be a four-way intersection in the shape of a crucifix but one side of the road has fallen down the hill. Carefully squeeze between the houses up ahead where the street narrows, don’t stop, even when buildings lean in on you. Keep to the right avoid the road that goes onto the sidewalk and into the house on the left. Don’t go in there; there’s a bloodstain in the sky right above the place. Pay no attention to the ghost of a man standing under the red light pulsing from that woman’s window, he’s not an apparition, but made of flesh and blood, like a Jehovah’s Witness who’s fishing for the broken, the widowed and the sheep. He’s no Moses, that man is a wolf. He can smell it on you. He craves attention. If you give him some you will find him hanging around your front door. If you lived around here you’d learn to look right through him as if he wasn’t there, and soon enough, he isn’t. Daniel McGinn Daniel McGinn is a native of Southern California in the United States. His work has been published in Cadence Collective, Lummox, Talus & Scree, Spillway and The OC Weekly along with numerous other magazines and anthologies. Daniel received his MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts at the age of 61, and his most recent collection of poems, The Moon, My Lover, My Mother & The Dog, was published by Moon Tide Press in 2018. ** I Am Walking The moon’s majestic hand paints the sidewalk like a white scarf. The row house wood barricades the Pacific breeze as cool as a ghost, smooth like stone by the bay. I walk past the darkened Worthington’s drug store, past each building on a street that murmurs until someone plays a trombone like a mad elephant. I had marinated at a bar after working at the Noe Theater. What is left is this walk to my clean home, but I’m as tired as a can of dripping paint. The neon red is as luminous as sin. Red is to blue as shade is to the next bright window. My bluish shoes remain as strong as an ox. I imagine my wife staying up late wrapped around by candlelight, reading a book until our baby cries. I imagine this long day then a little calmness like a lullaby. John Milkereit John Milkereit is a mechanical engineer working at an engineering contracting firm in Houston, TX. His poems have appeared in various literary journals including The Ekphrastic Review, San Pedro River Review, and The Ocotillo Review. He completed a M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the Rainier Writing Workshop in Tacoma, WA in 2016. His most recent collection of poems, Drive the World in a Taxicab, was published by Lamar University Press. ** Denizens People live here where there’s no point in looking for what’s lost under street lamps, where light pools without illuminating. People live here invisible behind blank-faced windows no memory of clamor, shouts, sirens, weeds cracking the pavement. People live here, glide weightless through the dark, ghosts of themselves. They do not dream but sleep like the dead, who have no future. People live here, but the streets don’t go anywhere. Antonia Clark Antonia Clark, a medical writer and editor, has also taught poetry and fiction writing and is co-administrator of an online poetry forum, The Waters. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, Smoke and Mirrors, a full-length poetry collection, Chameleon Moon, and the forthcoming collection, Dance Craze. Her poems and short stories have appeared in numerous print and online journals, including 2River View, Cortland Review, Eclectica, Innisfree Poetry Journal, The Pedestal Magazine, and Rattle. Toni lives in Vermont, loves French picnics, and plays French café music on a sparkly purple accordion. ** What the Lonely Do Your wallet is not lost. It is in my closet. The cash it once held hides beneath the Levis in your dresser. You will find it eventually. I counted $180: five-$20 and eight-$10 bills. Your license is in the palm of my hand, pressed between my legs, cupped around my sex. Your credit cards are spread over the cool cotton of my sheet. As I take my rest the plastic cards dig into my tender flesh and imprint my torso with your embossed name, a name I will never bear. Janette Schafer Janette Schafer is a freelance writer, nature photographer, part-time rocker and full-time banker living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her writing and photographs have appeared in numerous publications. She is an MFA student in Creative Writing at Chatham University. ** Dawn Between Nights Oh the poets, painters and dreamers that wander streets before dawn I was one Clackety-clack went the electric typewriter All night as I typed a story called Wake About the drunk girl I had been Clackety-clack while feeding on Golden Apples at my side Not the real kind but small wrapped multi-coloured candies The pile of cellophane grew and I began to feel the chill of early morning even as The drone of voices wrested from my typing rhythms Dimmed and I thought I too should join the fresh centrifugal quiet so I flew down the stairs of our Second story apartment that overlooked the Saugatuck River Spilling myself across the bridge into Westport Gulls blared by hello Westport then a child’s dream A place for people not yet grown At 20, barely visible even to myself I was An amoeba of experiences Tethered vaguely to the night Which fell away as I approached the town Still in the dream world of my words These words now birthed that sealed me to the sun and its agenda Its light glinting off windows The walls of brick and concrete buildings The very pavement I walked Pulling me out of shadows Into the summer dawn. Arya F. Jenkins Arya F. Jenkins is a Colombian-American poet and writer whose fiction has been published in journals and zines such as About Place Journal, Across the Margins, Anti-Heroin Chic, Black Scat Review, Cleaver Magazine, The Feminist Wire, Five on the Fifth, Fictional Café, Flash Fiction Magazine, The Matador Review, Metafore Literary Magazine, Mojave Literary Review, Vol. 1 Sunday Stories Series, and Provincetown Arts Magazine. Poetry is forthcoming in POETiCA REViEW, and fiction in Eunoia Review. Her fiction has received several nominations for the Pushcart Prize. Her poetry has also been nominated for the Pushcart. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks; the third, LOVE & POISON, was published by Prolific Press in November 2019. Her short story collection BLUE SONGS IN AN OPEN KEY (Fomite, 2018) is here: www.aryafjenkins.com. ** on matthew rackham barnes’ painting noe valley the streets and sidewalk flood with light sunrise perhaps a figure stands like silence grave and almost pale two windows: velvet orange sky cloud blue . . . a hush i can almost breathe as if i too were standing grave and almost pale against the dark built brick by brick with a door ajar Sister Lou Ella Hickman Sister Lou Ella is a former teacher and librarian. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, First Things, Emmanuel, Third Wednesday, and new verse news as well as in four anthologies: The Night’s Magician: Poems about the Moon, edited by Philip Kolin and Sue Brannan Walker, Down to the Dark River edited by Philip Kolin, Secrets edited by Sue Brannan Walker and After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events edited by Tom Lombardo. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017. Her first book of poetry entitled she: robed and wordless was published in 2015. (Press 53.) ** Heather/Cliffs/Ghost The paved streets of Noe Valley have nothing to do with the fields of heather of Scotland, but in colour, Scotland is present in San Francisco. The eerie buildings of Noe Valley have nothing to do with the high and the steep faces of rock – the cliffs – of the Scottish landscape, but in colour, Scotland is present in San Francisco. The lonely first-floor window of the building on the paved street of Noe Valley is not there for the ghost of the Scottish lady of the famous novel to enter, but in colour, Scotland is present in San Francisco. Paula Puolakka Paula Puolakka (1982) is a Beat poet, writer, and MA (History of Science and Ideas.) She has landed first and second in the poetry and short story contests and challenges held in the USA, Israel, and South Africa. She has also been awarded in a few essay contests held in Finland. Her latest work can be found through, for example, The Reader/Author Connection (May Issue #5 & November/December Issue #8), Woody Guthrie Poets (the "Speak Your Mind" poetry contest anthology,) Arts Quarter Books, Jerry Jazz Musician (Fall 2019 poetry edition,) and The Voices Project. ** Home The budding night Streaks light blue Across the sky Over the empty Neighbourhood The day’s light Fading into memory As darkness Creeps toward the edge Of us Senses charged And ready Our deepest fears Echoing down Lonely streets Behind footsteps On our way Home John Drudge John Drudge is from Caledon, Ontario, Canada. He is a social worker working in the field of disability management and holds degrees in social work, rehabilitation services, and psychology. John is the author of one book of poetry (published in 2019), and has appeared in the Arlington Literary Journal, The Rye Whiskey Review, Poetica Review, Literary Yard, Drinkers Only, The Alien Buddha Press, Montreal Writes, Mad Swirl, Avocet, Sparks of Caliope, Harbinger Asylum, and the Adelaide Literary Magazine. John is a Pushcart Prize nominee and his Book “March” is available in Independent Book Stores across Canada and on Amazon.com ** I Will Remove You From My Imaginings You cling to my mind's tongue like a coating of your favorite whiskey. My spirit seeks spirit, holds a seance, conjures at the crystal ball. My breath, aligned with yours, catches as you materialize again outside the shadowed door. I make a half-hearted attempt to shoo your ghost away. Stay a little longer, I pray, as the houses look on, bored. You linger in the doorway. I snort your laughter like cocaine, brain craving so much more. You're so close I can almost grasp the instant the accident occurred. The split second your will spurred your body to put an end to itself, its last gasp before you entered the final fray. Betsy Mars Betsy Mars is an LA-based poet, educator, photographer, and newly fledged publisher. Her first release, Unsheathed: 24 Contemporary Poets Take Up the Knife (Kingly Street Press) came out in October, 2019. She is a travel and animal enthusiast, a lover of language, art, and a believer in humanity. Her work has appeared online in numerous publications, as well as in a variety of anthologies and the California Quarterly. Her chapbook, Alinea (Picture Show Press), was published in January, 2019. Both books are available on Amazon or through the author who can be reached at marsmyst@gmail.com. ** California Noir Like a wraith, the dopplegänger skulks the darkling streets of Noe Valley, sunny California given over to shadows and sleep. Along the murky road, buildings watch—their windows fearful, doorways frightened mouths. The artist haunts his own painting. Lurking beneath the surface, veiled secrets, the dour crofts and gloomy moors of his native Scotland, where Selkies shifted shape to seduce the unsatisfied, and Kelpies beckoned the unsuspecting to jump on their backs and ride to a watery death. A dark surrealism unsettles the macabre landscape, San Francisco’s own dismal corner, site of quarries and blasting greed that unhoused the poor. Where the black-hearted brothers Gray were as feared as Scottish apparitions. Where now a lonely spectre keeps nocturnal vigil. Sandi Stromberg Sandi Stromberg’s poem, “The Pianist’s Gift,” just appeared in the ENOUGH anthology, the publication from a nation-wide competition run by Houston’s Public Poetry. It was a finalist among more than 600 entries from around the world. Meanwhile, challenges from The Ekphrastic Review keep her enthralled, connecting words and art. ** Noe Valley Apparition Had the haunting been a little less literal humanity a little more embodied not to say carnal Hopper might have approved. As it is, only the road sweats the windows shiver the hazed sky hung in perpetual fugue and that lone blanched figure forever half way home cold and hesitant somewhere between Twin Peaks and Siberia is really no one no one you’ve ever met or could face not on this sidewalk not in this district this world in the realm of all others. Alan Girling Alan Girling writes poetry mainly, sometimes fiction, non-fiction, or plays. His work has been seen in print, heard on the radio, at live readings, even viewed in shop windows. Such venues include Blynkt, Panoply, Hobart, The MacGuffin, Smokelong Quarterly, FreeFall, Galleon, Blue Skies, The Ekphrastic Review and CBC Radio among others. He is happy to have had poems win or place in four local poetry contests and to have a play produced for the Walking Fish Festival in Vancouver, B.C. ** Sarrancenia Red light draws a lonely man: bee to petal, sticky stamen inside. Sarrancenia seduces with beauty the scent is a lure - baited animal. This is a trick, he’s been trapped, captured. Drunk on nectar, he is suddenly drowning. He leaves through the door with a part of of him left, duped and sputtering in the stinking room. Outside, dusk light draws a lonely man, to the bright lit window of home. Barney Harper Barney Harper is a London based poet and essayist. She was shortlisted for the Hysteria Writing Prize and has had various pieces published in books, magazines and the web (sometimes under different names). She has a thing about haiku and she really, really likes cheese. ** beneath a gibbous moon free of the apartment, the dripping faucet, her cackles, her sneer-- outside, on the empty street, I taste the cold wind, kick a stone, search the night sky, listen to the howl of something wild Maureen Virchau Maureen Virchau lives in Western New York with her husband and son. Her haiku have appeared in Acorn, Frogpond, Bones, A Hundred Gourds, tinywords, Prune Juice, and Frameless Sky. Her work is included in The Red Moon Press Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014. ** Only The Lonely Know The Way I Feel Tonite when I walk Noe Valley neighborhood late at nite moon squinting through clouds street lamps still glowing occasional shop front lit with nobody round me no jalopy on these streets distant howls from a hound subtle aroma wafting from a bagel bakery I frequent while I mourn my Kilmarnock (though I was young then) not for industrial grime nor the poverty nor inclement weather there we didn’t have no earthquakes we didn’t have no Golden Gate we didn’t have no mobsters apart from in books yet my heart’s still back home as I meander, the aimless dreamer of notoriety while plastering for bread and I talk to myself, endlessly bout going round in circles bout what’s round that next corner what will morning bring searching for street signs I look out for landmarks I raise my nostrils to the air to sense my direction back to myself and beyond as I peer up at bedroom windows light beaming through curtains shadows dancing in pyjamas with life passing me by unless I grab it by the throat for as I catch my breath, I cry but nobody can hear me nobody can see me perhaps they don’t want to I guess they don’t care Alun Robert Born in Scotland of Irish lineage, Alun Robert is a prolific creator of lyrical verse achieving success in poetry competitions in Europe and North America. His poems have featured in international literary magazines, anthologies and on the web. He is particularly inspired by ekphrastic challenges. In September 2019, he was the featured writer for the Federation of Writers Scotland. ** Sleepwalking in the Early Hours The soft splendor of the night sky Envelopes would-be ghosts in cloaks of velvet As they pass through past dreams, Vaporous memories Opalescent as the coming dawn. Too quiet for lonely shadows, Streets are swept with light, Like so many slivers of moon, From windows of the sleepless Fading in somnambulant strokes upon the canvas, Traces of ink on the page, erased. No stars to brighten this curtain; Obscure, like the edges of a photograph The camera couldn’t see. Soon, the warm, hazy haloes rippling across the roads, Like stones skipped on a pond, Luminescing the glacial blue tones, the hues of snow, Will evaporate with the coming dawn, Once the nighthawks have gone home, And the streetlights lose their glow, Leaving nowhere else To roam. All the valleys of language Go unheard In the absence of volleys of words. The roof’s edges, jeweled with the dim reflections of clouds, Like dream-dusted eyes, Foggy recollections In the clustered houses, yawning wide-eyed Beside each other for warmth There’s a gentle, reticent bond Outside of Hopper’s solitude Here in Noe Valley. Kathryn Sadakierski Kathryn Sadakierski is both a creative writer and artist whose publications are forthcoming in Teachers of Vision Magazine, Dime Show Review, Truth Serum Press' anthology Indigomania, and in a Zimbell House Publishing anthology. Her poem "Luminesce" was recently featured on the Bangor Literary Journal website as a top ten winner of the Halloween 2019 Ekphrastic Challenge. She graduated from Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts summa cum laude with her Bachelor of Arts degree, and is currently pursuing her Master of Science degree. ** Ghost Town, Population: 1 Haven’t seen another soul in six months. Does that make me a ghost? Do ghosts know they are ghosts? Don’t see any cars either. It’s impossible to get a cab – but I can’t really complain. Some of us prefer our own company. The neighbourhood suits me – cheap rent, peaceful. Perfect for a writer, though living here does kind of mess with my head. Am I dreaming? That would explain the half-baked reality: lights, but no street signs, no sounds, not even wind or rain. Maybe heaven and hell are the same place. Alarie Tennille Alarie Tennille graduated from the University of Virginia in the first class admitting women. She’s now lived more than half her life in Kansas City, where she serves on the Emeritus Board of The Writers Place. Her latest poetry book, Waking on the Moon, contains many poems first published by The Ekphrastic Review. Please visit her at alariepoet.com. ** Evening Betrayal Once night falls I become an unreliable reporter, definition fades, sharp edges smoothen, faces present as non-descript; my useless orbs betray me at every periphery. I accept I am no longer one they can count on, my night testimony− worthless as a leaky condom. But even night blindness possesses its own unframed pastel allure, unveiling a bewitching landscape and the soothing tiptoe of innocuous ghostly figures. Elaine Sorrentino Elaine Sorrentino is Communications Director at South Shore Conservatory in Hingham, MA, where she creates promotional and first-person content for press and for a blog called SSC Musings. Facilitator of the Duxbury Poetry Circle, she has been published in Minerva Rising, Willawaw Journal, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Writers’ Magazine, The Writers Newsletter, Haiku Universe, and Failed Haiku. She is a past winner of Wilda Morris’s Poetry Challenge. ** To Matthew Rackham Barnes Regarding Noe Valley So full you fill an urban night with silence overwhelming light as echoed truth of fearful stare at all that is...and is not...there so softened into muted shape that eye, transfixed, cannot escape the gleam and glint of sills and eaves, or shadowed limbs that want for leaves, or pane of incandescent room so mocking day that might not loom for those afoul of reddish glow -- the bane, perhaps, of what below, translucent, still is image cast by light of moon as it has passed through wraith that seems reality foreshadowing finality. Portly Bard BIO: Old man. Ekphrastic fan. Prefers to craft with sole intent of verse becoming complement... ...and by such homage being lent... ideally also compliment. ** Noe Valley Triolet Who is the ghost now walking past your door? You’ve left the light on for him, red as blood. What does one do with ghosts at half past four? Where does he keep the key that fits your door? And when he leaves, are you still wanting more? It’s hard to think a ghost could be a stud though he strides full of vigor to your door attracted by your love light, red as blood. Greta Bolger Greta Bolger is a writer and artist who loves living in Benzie County, Michigan.. Her work has been published in several online and print journals, including Eclectica, The Ekphrastic Review, The Mom Egg, The Poetry Juice Box,The Literary Bohemian, typishly, and others, and recently anthologized in After: Stories About Loss and What Comes Next, edited by Daniel Stewart and Melissa Fournier. ** Noe Valley liquid sunlight spills down streets and ‘round corners reflecting off windows still closed against the night autumn’s creeping in like cats in alleys peering in through drowsing curtains no more blind than Homer or Ray Charles hearing heartache and blues in the innocence of empty streets Mark A. Fisher Mark A. Fisher is a writer, poet, and playwright living in Tehachapi, CA. His poetry has appeared in: Angel City Review, A Sharp Piece of Awesome, Altadena Poetry Review, Penumbra, Turnip Truck(s), and many other places. His first chapbook, drifter, is available from Amazon. His second, hour of lead, won the 2017 San Gabriel Valley Poetry Chapbook Contest. His plays have appeared on California stages in Pine Mountain Club, Tehachapi, Bakersfield, and Hayward. ** Firefly in the Doorway You entered, a small fireball of fury limbs crumpled beneath supple skin, fists and vocals demanding freedom. Destined to shine you cut a path through city cubes, manoeuvring curves like a diamond, your energy priceless. I think of you as an iridescent moon softly pulling the blue from the mournful, your reflection skating off glass kerbs illuminating the sky with speckled hope, the flicker-flack of firefly, your aura confident as a spark in the darkness unwrapping despair from the jumbled hitch and fold of this creased-up world, dazzling in the shade of a doorway. Kate Young Kate Young lives in Kent with her husband and has been passionate about poetry and literature since childhood. Over the last few years she has returned to writing and has had success with poems published in webzines in Britain and internationally. She is a regular reader of Ekphrastic Review and her work has appeared in response to some of the challenges. Kate is now busy editing her work and setting up her website. ** Illuminated by Loneliness I do not fear to stroll empty streets at dusk. Illuminated by loneliness, a magnet for melancholy-- bathed, clothed, shielded from gasping mouths of doors; surprised, window eyes witnessing these insomniac steps toward the red light beacon on brick. I cross the threshold tongue. It emits a welcome noise without precision of name. Drink me, reads the poison. I obey-- sorrow does not diminish, it grows. Bleary-eyed, I re-read the instructions: try, try again. Jordan Trethewey Jordan Trethewey is a writer and editor living in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. His new, frightening book of verse, Spirits for Sale, is now available on Amazon from Pskis Porch Publishing. Some of his work found a home here, and in other online and print publications such as Burning House Press, Visual Verse, CarpeArte Journal, Fishbowl Press, and is forthcoming in The Blue Nib. His poetry has also been translated in Vietnamese and Farsi. Jordan is an editor at https://openartsforum.com. To see more of his work go to: https://jordantretheweywriter.wordpress.com. ** I Am Cornered By the ruthless geometry of these nightmare streets where I am always too small to win too slow to get away- where the buildings stare from empty eyes and the maws of their doors ache to swallow- where nothing breathes not even an insect or a blade of grass - where no one sees the white ghost chase me down into the lowest cellar- where all moves on to its dark conclusion- where I cower and beg broken on his need- where no one knows and no one sees but the furnace grinning at me through a burning grate while all those empty houses open their mouths and scream Mary McCarthy Mary McCarthy is a writer and former Registered Nurse whose work has appeared in many print and electronic journals, and who loves ekphrastic. Her electronic chapbook, “Things I Was Told Not to Think About,” is available as a free download from Praxis Magazine. ** A One-Act Play He takes his evening walk through the bleakness of their nearly abandoned neighborhood. There is no moon, no stars; the streets, bare of any lights, are naked of nature-neither grass nor mud nor twigs grace the ground. There are no sounds, no car engines nor dogs barking. There is neither a train whistle nor people chattering in the streets. Men and women have scattered back inside, feeling vulnerable in the dark openness, needing to be enclosed in the safety of their rooms, abundant with artificial light. As he lingers alone past the many buildings on his street, he pauses by windows not yet closed with curtains for the night, and observes the men and women within, busy with some task at hand. Like its occupants, the structures are older, yet able to withstand uncontrollable forces. He knows them all well, having lived in this neighborhood for many years. Unseen as he walks in the darkness, only his footfall hints he is even there, he recalls the hardships yet perseverance in their lives. It’s like peeking inside their minds, unaware that they are being observed. He admires them for overcoming their hardships, yet sympathizes with their lives of solitude. The indoor light illuminates each person as if he or she is on stage, doused in a fleeting spotlight, and he is the sole audience member for this one- act play. He watches a momentary scene unfold for each, but like the omniscient narrator, knows the backstory of every occupant. He pauses briefly at their apartment windows. ** Building 1—In the corner apartment, the old woman is rocking back and forth in her afghan covered chair, talking to her mechanical parrot, Ike, named after her real parrot that died a few years ago. Once of average height, Eleanor wears a full body apron over her size 16 floral dresses. Crippled with arthritis, she takes a sip of RC Cola along with a handful of aspirin which gets her through the daily and nightly pain. She rocks to meditate, to breathe, to slow down the aches in her bones. A widow for four decades, she has long abandoned driving and takes to the streets, walking to church ,the grocery store, and the fast food restaurant where she loves their hamburgers and fries. She picks up her rosary beads, always within reach of her rocking chair, and begins to pray. To the right of Eleanor sits a man in a green and white lawn chair admiring the night sky, smoking his unfiltered Camel cigarettes. Peter, tall and quiet, wears a straw hat and glasses which frame his jowl heavy, nose heavy face. His cane is resting against his wooden leg, the real one amputated in a train accident. As a younger man he was an alcoholic. His children would barricade themselves in a room, pushing a heavy dresser in front of the door so he couldn’t come after them. His brother too was an alcoholic and would end up in jail for public drunkenness. He takes a sip of his ginger ale between puffs of his Camels. Next to Peter is a middle-aged woman scrubbing the wall where a plate of food and its contents have landed. Her mustached husband was displeased with his dinner, so he hurled it across the room onto the wall, where the plate shattered and the food colored the white walls red. Andrea will clean up the mess and return to the kitchen to prepare another dish for her husband. It’s how women are viewed from her country, to serve their husbands. Her husband isn’t unkind to her; it’s just the way it is. When she was younger he had to disguise her to look like an old woman because their country was being overtaken and there was so much rape. She continues to scrub the sauce off the walls. Building 2-He crosses the street to the next building over. In the bottom apartment a man is seated at the table slurping his soup and dropping cracker crumbs onto the floor. Next to his plate sits a race car he has been carving for his grandson. Most men of his nationality are short, but Alexander is tall and thin, and breathes with only one lung. The hump of the leather pouch he carries is visible underneath his undershirt-it is where he carries his money. When his first wife died, he remarried shortly after, finding a second wife back in Hungary, someone to cook and clean and keep him company. He picks up his bowl and drinks the broth as a stream dribbles down his chin. Above Alexander is a rugged man seated at an easel where he paints a picture of a barn in a field. Anton dabbles in painting--he has some talent and can create beautiful landscapes. Next to his easel sits a box of baking soda and a glass of water. This is his cure for diverticulitis and his cluster headaches. At age twelve he cut his father out of a tree where he had hanged himself. He is smart but had to become the man of the house at a young age, to support his mother and older sister; he quit school and a few years later enlisted in the army. He lights a candle and continues painting. Building 3- Once more he crosses the street, this time to the building on the left to find Lucille, in the corner cubicle, sitting at the kitchen table, caressing a cup of black coffee, watching the Mets play on her small TV set situated on the counter. She had a high fever right before her teenage years--Scarlet fever. It would eventually affect her hearing. She was good at reading lips and wore mediocre hearing aids, but she eventually was fitted with a cochlear implant-she was one of the first to try this new invention, which gave her back some of her hearing. Family was her world. She took care of her sick mother, her sick husband: the consummate daughter and wife. She makes another pot of coffee as the games swings into the fifth inning. Above her apartment, Carl is watching a taped game of his favorite basketball player, Larry bird. Carl says that Larry walks the talk. He almost died as a toddler during open heart surgery, which one would never know save for the long scar on his chest. And because of this surgery, he could never play contact sports. So he turned his energy into other avenues. “My father always told me that I could have whatever I wanted as long as I earned it.” So he started working at age twelve, changing tires on 18 wheelers. Always big for his age, he was treated more like a man than a boy. He followed his beloved grandfather on the oil rigs and learned the business, which made him so strong that he could touch his nose with a sledge hammer, simultaneously, with one in each hand. He stands, bent with back pain from years of hard word, to switch tapes to Bird’s retirement ceremony. ** He turns in a circle and watches as all the inside apartment lights fade, monologues stop, and curtains close for another day. The stories will continue each night with the same actors and actresses in place, who, like a wind-up toy, will go through the motions, until they can no more. Simple people who struggled, overcame, yet ended up alone in their own tales, in their own nightly rituals. He continues on with his walk, leaving as he came. No breath of air, no jingling of wind chimes. No fireflies or bats swoop the sky. A neighbourhood devoid of motion and noise, contrasting the lives of those he records. Ann Hultberg Ann Hultberg is a retired high school English teacher and currently a composition instructor at the local university. She writes mostly nonfiction stories about her family, especially focusing on her father’s escape from Budapest, Hungary, to the United States. Her essays have been accepted by Persimmon Tree, Dream Well Writing, Drunk Monkeys, The Drabble, The Story Pub, Kindred Voice, Fevers of the Mind, Mothers Always Write, and Moonchild Magazine. You can follow Ann on Facebook at 60 and writing and @Hajdu on Twitter.
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September 2023
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