earth note 4

buena vista street, pittsburgh

red brick empty building
quietly aging in silence
once living cohabitant
alone
dust and gray mold replace
broken bits of spaghetti
between the sink and stove
small voices in bunk beds long gone
dandelions rise in place of cabbage and tomatoes
a coal cellar turned darkroom turned spider web
disconnected
stained glass sun lunges into a pale green alcove
desperate to be touched
a master bedroom creaks and hollers
to a banister polished in a thousand hands
a straight plastered wall balancing
a piece of parlor mirror
catches eyes in the alley
a silence broken

--- e b bortz

(published in tight, volume 7, #1, 1996)