Harrisburg Echoes Three Excerpts
During the early 1990’s my wife and I spent a bit of time visiting her mother, Willa Bronstein, in Harrisburg, Pa. Her mother, Willa Bronstein, was slowly dying from an untreated cancer. She had told everyone she was seeing a Doctor but, like the Indian Creek Chicken House, this had been the truth at a certain time.
Harrisburg, Pa., like many state capitol cities goes from trash strewn lotdom to renaissance on a regular basis.
These, then, three excerpts from the 16 ? page Harrisburg Echoes, the full to be transposed whenever found in the floating echoes of the basement.
Note; extensive changes in the first and third excerpts at this revisement
Read in the November 05 reversion
For Willa Bronstein and Harrisburg, Pa.
Harrisburg Echoes
Excerpt #1
Nothing or noone
Nothing
Nothing
or
No one
No one
No one
Is ever really e ver really
Where you left them.
No thing
is ever really
really
where you left
it.
Nothing or noone is
You can’t touch memories
can’t eat them
drink them
touch them-
can’t cover your shivers
on a wind some street
with
them
they are not old yard
card
board
blankets
Memories demand you hold them,
insistent
Like kittens
Harrisburg Echoes
Excerpt # 2
Willa wanted us to go to
The Italian Creek Chicken House
a restaurant
we could not go to
in a state of now
we could not go to now
now that it is 1994 and not 1979
we do not have the car
that could get us thre
in a state of now
My future wife’s mother
wanted us to drive to
a Restaurant
where weeds now grow
where weeds now grow
The only thing worth saying
was that Bob was new in town
and we would never find it
and we would never find it
This was true, now,
and always would be
Harrisburg Echoes
Excerpt # 3
The Trains were still Great then
the times were still huge
there were some years left
before nineteen fifty
It still meant something
to be a Train Man
to live at the Alva
to live at the Alba
come in town
find a bottle
and a woman
find a battle
and a woman
find a real meal
not just
train
food
find a woman a battle and a bottle
and only mean the promises
made to the bottle…..
figure if some man
walked alone, then
it was only ‘cause he
wanted to
and nobody else’s business
Bob Small revised 5-27-13
11-17-05 original 10-30-94 on a word processor
robertthesmall 