FACTORY

 

FACTORY

When I was taking the photo of the

Concrete factory or plant

Or manufacturing facility

As the Best Concrete Mix. Corp. puts it on its website

A man who I assume works there

Asked me what I was doing 

I told him I was taking a picture

He asked me why

Maybe he was afraid I was trying

To publicize how the making of concrete 

Adds to global warming

The truth is when I saw the factory

As I was driving on College Point Boulevard

It stood out

A rare sight

With its varied shapes resembling

An abstract sculpture

A lasting paean to the Industrial Age

But before I could explain all this to him

The man walked away

 

 

TOWERS

 

TOWERS

 In Flushing Meadows Park 

Three observational towers

Remain from the 1964 World's Fair

The same year the home  of the

NY Mets opened

Now only plaques in a parking lot

Mark where Shea stadium once stood

Back then when the World's Fair arrived

 You could take the "Skystreak" capsule elevator

And quickly get to the top tower

226 Feet

Where you could observe 

Weather permitting 

New Jersey

Connecticut

The Atlantic Ocean

And much of Long Island

So says the official guide  

Which you could have bought at the Fair

For only one dollar

The middle tower was for

"Refreshments" 

Seeing how Coca-Cola had its own

Tower at the Fair

I will assume there was

Plenty of Coke to be bought

The shortest tower was reserved 

For VIP's to relax

Or as the official guide puts it

"A lounge for visiting dignitaries"

For the longest time these towers 

Were left to decay 

 Along with the Tent of Tomorrow

Where there was a floor map of New York State

Made of terrazzo thanks to the 

Generosity of the Texaco Oil Company 

(When it  was accessible  to visitors 

I danced around  with friends

In the large open space one glorious night)

Now workers are busy 

Repairing the The New York State pavilion 

Seems if you hang around long enough

They either tear you down

Or rehabilitate you

 

.

ALEXANDER'S

 ALEXANDER'S

Alexander's is long gone

Replaced by a mall

With stores

Like Marshall's and now Ikea

Alexander's had three floors

Covering a huge city block

Many times leaving my elementary school

Which was nearby

Instead of going home by myself

Watching television and eating red apples

Until my parents came home

I would wander around for hours in Alexander's

Once in a while they would try to 

Chase me out 

But it was easy escaping by taking

An escalator and going to the next floor

My favorite floor was the second

Because there you could find the toys

And the record department

Where you could spend your time

Looking over the covers of the LP's

Next to the record  department

Was the camera department

I bought my first camera there

The Kodak X-15 which I think cost

Twenty-five dollars

I still have many of the pictures taken by that camera

Strangely years later

Looking through my closet

I found another box with another 

Kodak X-15 camera inside

But I only remember buying one camera

The camera somehow spawned and 

Who was I to complain

Alexander's was the type of store

Where workers made careers 

For what they expected to be a lifetime

Although it maintained an

Illusion of permanence 

Even back then waiting on the 

Long lines with the slow cash registers

 You could sense something was going to

Have to change

No one imagined Alexander's would  actually close

The only thing left now

Is the facade of white bricks

A wailing wall  of sorts for some of

The old timers ofRego Park

TOILET

 TOILET

Was the toilet placed on the 

Sidewalk on Austin Street

As a symbol of what we've become?

So many have left the city

For greener pastures

More room

Less crime

Much cleaner

Who needs New York?

Not all  have run away

 Some have stayed through

The worst  of times

What makes the city vibrant

Are the people who live here

As long as enough stick around

It will make a comeback

And the toilet bowl 

On Austin Street will just be a 

Toilet bowl someone threw away

Or perhaps an avant-garde garbage bin.

 

 

BRIEF ENCOUNTER

BRIEF ENCOUNTER

Two women and a man

Were pushing a trolley 

Along 108th Street

I followed them a bit

And then I asked them

If I could take a picture 

One of the women smiled and nodded

Her smile was quiet and gentle

In a world where most

Wear masks 

It was a rare sight  to see

Especially from a stranger

They stopped on the sidewalk

I focused my lens

On the bags full of cans and

Plastic bottles

After I finished taking the picture 

Feeling awkward for intruding

In their lives

I commented

That it must've taken a lot of work

To gather everything

The man with the glove

 In the photo adjusting the bags  

Took a deep breath and said:

Almost apologetically in Spanish

Something like:

"Well, sometimes we have to do what

we have to do to survive."

If I was a genie I would've 

Granted them a wish

Any wish

But instead I watched them struggle

To move the trolley

Along on the sidewalk

As they continued on their way

And I did the same

HOME

 

HOME

In the Loehmann's parking lot

We'd gather in the summer afternoons

When the clothing store had closed

And all the cars had gone

The parking lot was now

Ready for us

Ready for stick ball

Except we didn't use a stick

We used wooden bats

We didn't use rubber balls

We used tennis balls

We created a box on the wall

With some type of cement

The remnants which are still visible today

In front of the box we'd stand

Ready to face the pitcher 

Who would try have us swing and miss

With an assortment of fastballs

Sometimes even curves

Some threw overhead

Some sidearm

Opposite home plate

Was the Mandalay

One of the buildings from 

Lefrak City's Section 5

If you hit the ball above the seventh floor

Of the Mandalay

It was considered a home run

We also had rules for singles

Doubles and triples

Once Julio hit a ball that broke a window

On the seventh floor

It was my grandparent's apartment

They usually were by the window 

Watching us play

Luckily not that day

One year we kept stats

Batting averages

We would be aware of how 

We did that day

Did we go up or did we go down

We also had a ringer

Who would show up once in a while 

He was was a few years older than us

And was planing to make baseball a career

Joel would sometimes hit the ball 

To the fourteenth floor if not higher

It was not an exclusive club

When new kids moved into Lefrak

We welcomed them into our league

A place to spend the hours

A chance to bond

99th STREET

 99th STREET

There were two ways to get to

99th Street

You could go down to the basement 

Of the Mandalay building where we lived

Walk through Lefrak City

Up a short hill until you

Reached a small tunnel

That led you there

Or you could walk along Horace Harding Expressway

And make a left turn

99th Street was where 

Hills supermarket was located

Having just arrived from Gibraltar 

Hills supermarket seemed

Like paradise on Earth

They even had fresh milk

In Gibraltar we could only buy 

Carnation condensed milk

 Mixing it with water

From Hills supermarket 

My mom would get me 

French bread 

Coleslaw 

Gulden's yellow mustard 

A pound each of Genoa salami and ham 

We'd put the French bread in the oven

Then I would spread the mustard 

Quickly place the Genoa salami slices 

And the ham slices

Topping it off with the coleslaw

The result was most delicious hero ever

I opened my first savings account on 99th Street

The East New York Savings Bank 

Receiving a passbook and an ID Card

Every week I'd wait on line to

Deposit a dollar

I'd hand the teller the passbook

Who would record the transaction

Afterwards I'd closely inspect the passbook 

Making sure all was done properly

If it looked right

Which it always did 

I'd carefully put away the passbook

In a plastic cover

99th Street was also where my sister 

Found her first job

L.H.  Martin 

She started out as a cashier

Working herself up to doing the books

In the office overlooking the sales floor

L.H. Martin sold a little bit of everything

I bought my mom some plastic spoons

For mother's day 

Once I was tempted to shoplift

Seeing myself all alone 

In the back of the store 

Surrounded by so much nice stuff 

Just as I was going to strike 

In the corner of my eye

I saw Adolfo

The security guard

Who fortunately happened to be friendly with my sister 

He stared at me with a knowing look 

But he let me slide

Across from 99th Street  was Sherwood Village 

When I was 12 or 13

I started delivering the Long Island Press there

Every afternoon

 I would travel to all these strange buildings 

And leave the newspaper by the door of each subscriber

Twice a month in the evening 

I would try collect the payments

Sometimes I'd go with Milton to the candy store on 99th Street

To buy the NY Post  for his father Abbie

Once we waved the back of the newspaper 

All the way home

Yelling at the top of our lungs

Ya Gotta Believe

After the Mets had won the pennant 

Beating the Big Red Machine

The church had a parking lot on 99th Street

Where we played stick ball

If you hit a home run the

Rubber ball would land

Over a high fence 

Into a landscape of menacing towers

Something Dr. Frankenstein would have 

Used to power his monster

99th Street was also where the

Movie theater was located 

I tried to go see True Grit with John Wayne by myself 

With no luck

Later with others I saw Jaws

I never wanted to go swimming in the ocean again

It's the street I walked to get to middle school

The place Ross punched me in the eye 

After I told him I had a fight with Kenny 

And no punches were thrown

It was also where I showed Luisa my 

Graduation pictures from I.S. 61

My father had died of cancer that April

Shattering my world forever

Luisa looked at my pictures

Said I was cute and I was happy

At least for a moment

On 99th Street

 

BANTER

 BANTER

Sorting through my papers

The other day

I found a receipt 

Dated March 6, 2020

For $119.54 

Including tip

From a restaurant

In Forest Hills

Called Banter

Which closed a 

Few months ago

Back in March 2020 

I had dinner in Banter

With a close friend

And my son

The restaurant was full

Lively

We were already aware of the

Coronavirus 

Yet we still hadn't  processed

The effects it would have 

On our Lives

Although there was a 

Huge bottle of hand sanitizer available

No one wore masks

No one socially distanced

Somehow we imagined

It would be contained

As if by magic

No need to worry

No need to fear

We ate freely

We talked loudly

Were we delusional

Or simply naive?

A few weeks later

NYC closed its schools

Ambulances could be heard 

In my neighborhood

Wailing all day

All night

Outside our local hospital 

A refrigerator truck  was parked

To handle all the dead bodies

Ordinary evenings like the ones

We shared in Banter 

Would seem like something 

From a distant past

RAILING

 

RAILING

I came to see if the railing

Was still there

The railing next to the exit

Where they let us out 

From elementary school

I was in 3-3 

Mrs. Hayes class

Having arrived in 

The United States in April

At the age of eight

They placed me in second grade

But I complained  that it was too easy

So my father went to the school

We met with the principal

And they put me in the higher grade

For some reason which is not clear

Maybe because I was a newcomer

The kids took an instant disliking to me

And after school they would

Try to beat me up

My parents worked so I was on my own

A latchkey kid

I would've been dead meat 

Except I had a secret weapon

My cousin Alan

Who was a few grades higher than me

It was him who I remember holding off the 

Horde of kids from my class 

Who were solely dedicated

To making my life hell

I don't remember any teachers 

Or any other adults intervening

Maybe they did but they have 

Been wiped out of my memory

I just see my cousin valiantly

Taken them all on

Next to the railing

That is still there today

CANVAS

 CANVAS

When the last meal was served

In the diner on 49th Avenue

The building became dead

A reminder of how many

Businesses have closed during

The pandemic

Like many of us 

During these uncertain months

It found a way to adapt

Over time the building 

Transformed itself into 

A large canvas

Providing an opportunity

For many to express themselves

Brought back to life with

Red

Orange

Yellow 

Green 

Blue

Bubble letters

The building now stands not 

As a testament of sorrow

But as a colorful 

Possibility of change

BILLBOARD

 

BILLBOARD

Driving around Long Island City

A decrepit billboard caught my eye

Pasted on an old advertisement 

Which once promoted 

Towing of some sort

Now tagged with graffiti

A head pops out

With a grin or a smile

How quickly we can 

Go from

America's mayor

To an ugly joke

ROBBERY

ROBBERY

It was just going to be a cheap meal

And some relaxing talk

My wife 

My Friend

And I

Went to the Blue Bay Diner

In Fresh Meadows

My wife wanted to sit 

Somewhere in the back

But there was a free table 

In the front

So we took it

A few minutes after we settled in

While looking through the menu

A man walked in with a sawed-off shotgun

He pointed it at the cashier 

Who lifted his hands up in the air

A manager came over and started to

Open the register and give the robber  

The money inside

My wife started to reach 

In her pocket to take money out

But my friend and I told her not 

To do anything

 When you are going through this

Experience it really seems

Like you are in a movie set

You understand the danger you

Are in except you can't make sense of it

Is this really happening?

What's going to happen next?

Am I going to lose my life for a burger?

As these thoughts were racing through my head

The robber got the money and took off

The cashier kept his hands up

Frozen  

The manager who had kept his 

Cool told him he could put them down

We stayed and ordered our meal

 I got a salad

PALACE

 

PALACE

The RKO Keith's in Flushing

Was once a movie palace

A golden place where you could

Forget the outside world

When I was thirteen or fourteen

I went with my sister 

And her boyfriend

To see the The Towering Inferno there

Shortly the lights went dark

The curtains opened

And before we knew it

We were inside

A burning office building

With Paul Newman and 

Steve McQueen

For a few hours

We became lost

In the world presented

On the giant screen

Not an opportunity

To eat bad popcorn and 

Drink Coca-Cola

But a chance to  

Indulge our imagination

The Towering Inferno is 

Mostly now forgotten

And sadly so are movie palaces

Like the RKO Keith's

FURS

 

FURS

On Queens Boulevard

The H. Goodman store that sold furs

Or could preserve them in cold storage

Has a For Rent sign

Was it the pandemic that made it

Go out of business?

Was it climate change?

Was it that people

Think wearing furs

Is not politically correct?

No story is told 

Other that it was established

In 1908

Just a rolling gate

And a telephone number

If you call and ask why

The H. Goodman Furs store 

Is now empty

I doubt they will tell you

Or even know

Another store will one day

Take over and what

They will sell is yet to 

Be determined 

NATURE

 

NATURE

Snow covered trees

Achieve perfection

For just a short while

Like the Buddhist mandalas

Reminders of temporary wonder

Tomorrow or the next day

Nature will move on

Preparing for a spring opening

How spoiled we are

By the marvels presented to us

All for free

Nature needs an agent

SHELTER

 SHELTER

If there is a nuclear attack

I am suppose to head to the basement

And seek shelter

The fallout sign with the 

Three orange upside down triangles

Tells me to

What are we all going to do in the basement?

An entire building of lost souls

For how long are we staying there?

The sign seems like a leftover

From a 1960's creature feature

An interesting memorabilia

Isn't it?

But the sign is real

The bombs haven't disappeared

They have only gotten better

Faster

Deadlier

It could happen

How many of us even know what fallout is?

GARAGE

 

GARAGE

In Forest Hills

Holding on

Barely

Neighborhood is full of new construction

This is a rundown garage 

Or what once was a garage

Now a place for graffiti artists 

To practice their craft?

Seems odd

Yet I find this decaying building

Somehow reassuring

Maybe in the rush to build

They forgot to take it down

Or someone for whatever reason

Refuses to let go of the property

In a strange way

A symbol of endurance

A survivor

 

BICYCLE

BICYCLE

When I was in eleventh grade

In John Bowne High School

I got a job at Bialow Drugs

Making a little over three dollars an hour

I was the stock boy

Threw out the garbage

And also did the deliveries

Where usually I would get a small tip

A quarter

Fifty cents

Sometimes even a dollar

I made the deliveries

Not with a bike equipped with

A fancy electric motor

My bike was old

Heavy

One speed

And had a metal basket in the front

Where I put the supplies

It was challenging

Peddling the bike 

Up the hills

But I managed

Once going downhill

On 108th

The chain snapped

Now I am speeding down

A busy street

With a bike that could pass 

For a tank

I can't stop

Moms with baby carriages are crossing

And I'm yelling at them to get out of the way

I know this seems like I am making it up

A fantasy

Repeated over and over

Until each time it seems 

More real

More exciting 

I had to get the bike to stop somehow

In a blur of a moment

I saw a spot between

The curb and a tree

Before parking the bike

I jumped off like an Olympic acrobat

And made a safe landing

Put the chain back

And drove uneventfully back to the store

No one believed what had just happened

Since this was the good bike

Only a few years old

I threw out the garbage

And went home

The thing is 

Sometimes even I question if this happened

All I know is

I quit the job shortly after
 

PIGEONS

 

PIGEONS

So in a few hours their

Whole world changes

Covered by snow

They have no idea

If it will ever go

Back to what it was

They adapt because they have to

A new reality

Like it or not

SNOW

 

SNOW

Snow and wind

Most stay home

A few venture out on 108th Street

Scenery is beautiful

But so is a warm bed