SPELLING

 

SPELLING

I was in 5-5

The way my elementary school 

Along the Horace Harding Expressway

PS 206

Placed students in classes

Was by grades

The best grades went to 5-1

The worst grades went to 5-5

We would participate in spelling bees

With other classes

And it usually ended up me 

Against ten of the students 

From the other class

If it was 5-5 against 5-1

It might've been twenty against me

I don't know if I won any

But I was the class superstar when

It came to spelling bees

So I was chosen to represent

5-5 in the school spelling bee

All my classmates were pumping me up

This was a chance to show the school

5-5 was as good as the other classes

If not better

The first word I got was:

A B S T A C T

I blew it!

There was nothing abstract about it

A concrete failure

 I still remember the look the 

Teacher gave me as I was walking 

Down from the stage of the auditorium

To my seat with the rest of 5-5

L O S E R

 

LIBRARY

 

LIBRARY

I was walking with my teenage son

Talking

A rare occasion

I told him one of the things

I missed during the pandemic 

Is the library

He of course couldn't understand why

The library is a refuge

A place of discovery and possibility

Where silence is cherished 

Guarded

Expected

When the new Elmhurst library opened

I started taking out non-fiction books

And rediscovered my love of reading

Along the way I had lost this passion

When I was a teen I looked forward 

To buying a book every week

Novels

Russian

French

English

American

I read them

Some hundreds of pages long

I noticed when I started to read again 

I lacked the stamina

But after a few books I regained it and could 

Read for hours

Taking the journey with the writer

To Honduras to find a lost Mayan city

Or to Liberia to treat Ebola patients

After fifteen or so books

Life got busy again and I stopped reading

Every so often I would still go to the library

Hoping to find a book that would get me back

And once in a while I would

 

 

HILL

 

HILL

When he was in second or third grade

I told my son to run up

To his school

I would wait for him

To reach the door

at the bottom of the hill

He ran really fast

When he got to the blue door

Entrance to the school

He turned around and waved

And then he went inside the cafeteria

Where the kids were greeted by an aide

In that moment I realized

How quickly he would change

From this adorable playful

Child

To a grown-up

 I wiped away my tears 

And headed back home

 

STEREO

 

STEREO

The CD player on my stereo wasn't working

So I took it to a repair shop on Queens Boulevard

We tend to throw away old things

That don't work right

Instead of fixing them

Many times they tell us

It costs more to fix

Than to buy a new one

Some things like CD players

Have been made obsolete

Taken over by new technology

But my Technics stereo

Had a sentimental value

Maybe because they don't make them anymore

Or the cool sidelights

Or that it also has a cassette player

Or because it just looks pretty

So I took it to be repaired

I was happy when I put in a CD and it played again

Then it broke once more

I did think of getting rid of it

But I went back and fixed it again

Going to the repair shop 

Was a time travel experience

Electronics and dot matrix printers

All kinds of gadgets

Some there as almost ornaments of another age

When things somehow seemed more 

Comprehensible

My stereo was fixed and I used it for a while

But it now rests somewhere in a corner

Of my apartment

Disconnected

Like all of us in a way

BASKETBALL

 

BASKETBALL

I was a kid

Playing basketball on my favorite courts

Next to the Long Island Expressway

 My friend was angry at me

Over some nonsense that happened 

Outside the courts

He had punched me in the arm

And I was upset

So I took it out

On the older man who liked to play

With us

Who had a marine haircut

And a great hook shot

I told him to go play with someone his own age

Now many years later

At least thirty

Driving by these courts

I saw him

Seemed time had stopped

Same marine haircut

Same great hook shot

I got out of the car and wanted to

Go over and apologize

But I didn't

I watched him play for a few minutes

He looked happy

So I got back in the car

And drove away

PLAYGROUND

 

PLAYGROUND

During the summer of 69

While some went to Woodstock

I came here

To a triangular park

Off Yellowstone Boulevard

This is where we played

Before heading to Forest Park for the day

Having just arrived from Gibraltar

I was eager to make friends

One said he would come to my house

He spoke Spanish like I did

My mother prepared the apartment 

For our visitor

Who was going to be my 

First friend in America

But he never showed up

MURAL

 

MURAL

In  Kew Gardens

Behind an Art Deco movie theater dating back to the 30's

Which in the 70'sand 80's began showing porno

And now plays indie films from all over the world

Until it closed because of Covid-19

There is a small park  

Empty except for a few hungry pigeons

And myself taking a picture

Of a mural 

Showing Rodney Dangerfield

Who became famous for his rapid fire jokes

About how he got no respect

 

CRATE

 

CRATE

Somehow a milk crate 

Ended up in the lake

In Flushing Meadows Park

Now it's part of the landscape

Someone's contribution to nature

 

POSTERS

 

POSTERS

Beat up posters

Of an apocalyptic nightmare

Originally meant to provoke passersby

Now just a cruel reminder of how

Reality has outstripped

The menacing graphics

Hopefully another generation

In another time

Will once again

Be shocked 

By the images

Pasted on this temporary wall 

In Elmhurst

SIGN

 

SIGN

Georgia Diner moved

Across Queens Boulevard

Sign stayed

Too old for the new spot

Or too big to move?

Stands tall

At least for now

 

HOSPITAL

 

HOSPITAL

The building is abandoned

Fading memories are all that linger

My mother came here a long time ago

After she had her heart attack

What was once named Parkway Hospital

As it sits near the Grand Central Parkway

They gave her an aspirin

My mother died in another hospital

Three years ago

Put in hospice care

Her heart kept beating for a week

Without food or water

 

STAIRS

 

STAIRS

Am I trying to reach the top?

The view is fine from here

Never satisfied

Take another step

Why can't I stay here?

Am I the one who wants to climb

Or are the voices of others?

I like it here

But for how long?

 

TRAIL

 

 TRAIL

Yellow brick road led to Oz

Pat Dolan trail leads to Willow Lake

Enter 

Alone

Marshland

Muddy

Step on broken crates

Can lose footing

Get injured

Head back home

Or keep going?

Reach Willow lake

Spot  the Great 

Blue Heron

CHAIRS

 

 CHAIRS

What are you waiting for?

Take a seat

I'm very comfortable

Not so clean for you?

What do you expect?

I'm out here in the elements

But once you sit down

You'll forget your worries

Imagine yourself somewhere else

Wherever you want

Trust me

For a few minutes

You'll feel like you're

On top of the world

TREE

 

TREE

It was fun 

Especially the star on top

The presents

Not a lot of people

But we made it up with good cheers

And then 

It' was all over

Back to where I started

 I'll admit I was a bit surprised

I thought we had something lasting

Must've been the punch

SHOES

 

SHOES

Fashion tastes come and go

Or so they say

The shoes may still be good for walking

But someone decided not for them

A garbage can never looked so chic

 

BREAD

 

BREAD

I am a pigeon

Sometimes I dream

I am hungry

Looking for food

I am out of luck

Then out of nowhere

I see a spread

More bread than I can ever imagine

All for me

It will take me forever to finish

Then a car horn wakes me up

I fly away with nothing

BALLOONS

BALLOONS

Why are all these balloons hanging out in the park?

An artist installation with no artist in sight

In a trendy gallery they would be trying to figure out

The purpose

In a mostly empty park

They are simply balloons 

No one asks questions

No one tries to decipher the greater meaning

They walk by and the balloons don't seem to mind

PIANO

 

PIANO

Once the B. Shoninger piano 

Was the prize of the house

Beautiful in shape and form

Playing music at the touch of a key

How many hours?

How many days?

How many years?

Now discarded on the street

Stripped of many of its charm

To be picked up by strangers 

And taken where?

For how long?

Will someone restore it to its former glory

Or will it be recycled out of existence?

Stay tuned