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By Elisabeth (Elisabeth) on Friday, February 22, 2002 - 12:02 am
With spoken word bookings in mind and trace memory of the hooker last week he shuffles up Columbus Avenue through the beat holy land of North Beach with the slight dandruff itch in his bushy brown hair a scratch there and one arm clamps to its side the other arm holding satchel of spiral notebooks and chapbooks as sportscars and diesel busses pass him by while he's waiting at the red light looking leering to the side to see if that punk is anywhere to one side of him or the other but he's not and the light turns green so he walks past the old Purple Onion and uphill some more shuffling in his white windbreaker past Tosca and glances in at the long bar anchored by giant towering brass espresso machines and as he moves past the open door hears the strains of that Italian opera for the second time today before hanging a right into the little alley and enters The Adler Museum Cafe otherwise known as Spec's in which his eyes adjust to the low light and he enters deeper into the musky cave choosing a round table where his comrades sit smoking and sharing a pitcher of pale beer beneath a painting of Josephine in black while two of them discuss in serious tones and two of them are hunched over notebooks glancing up briefly to greet him in queries with droll deliveries to which he reports that the boil is better thank you. |
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By KateC (Katec) on Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 10:24 am
I love this. It's very vivid and this guy's sour smell comes wafting up off the page. I love the part at the end where he says the boil is better; it really took me by surprise. |
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By Eithne (Eithne) on Saturday, February 23, 2002 - 02:25 pm
I love it too. Great description of North Beach and it's subculture! I like the way you used the actual names of buinesses/landmarks, makes it very vivid for anyone who's spent any time there. (Did the purple onion close? What a shame!) I also liked the end, it made me laugh out loud. |
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By Elisabeth (Elisabeth)
on Sunday, February 24, 2002 - 12:04 pm
I'm not sure if Purple Onion has closed. That may have been misleading... |
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By Anonymous on
Monday, February 25, 2002 - 08:44 pm
I like the simple strolling flow of the piece, very much like I'm a hand-held camera following behind. This pace and the flutter of impressions help make the boil capper work. |
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