-looks to be around 1949, 1950?-

1.

during the installation of officers

at the Sons of Italy Hall, John Vickers leaned-in
to whisper something close to my young mother’s ear.

the image was captured across the folding banquet table

by a mutual friend who took the snapshot with a Kodak Brownie;

the document finding its way to my hands after six decades.

I’m presenting this photograph in the rare chance

that someone still among the living or roaming the aether,
shed light as to what the hell's going on.

this isn’t a pleasant whisper of best wishes, nor

is it a whisper asking if she would like

another slice of cake.

I think John Vickers wants to advance his standing
with my young mother.

his Chevrolet coupe is warming-up in the parking lot

behind the wood-shingled building on Covel street, a short,
densely populated roadway connecting Bedford to Pleasant.

It’s the street where Louie Samph’s oldman had a small variety store.

It’s the store where we bought our "peggy-balls" and stickball "pinkies",
also offering a sweet array of gummy candies crowded into a fishbowl on the counter.

In time, Louie would  become a well known hairdresser in town,

sole proprietor of “Mr. Louis Hair Salon” and was reputed to be a good dancer,

an honorarium later authenticated by my older sister Janice, the one who'd know.

1b.

"Annie, Would you like a ride home after the vote?" whispered the cad, John Vickers.

"Annie, What a lovely dress you're wearing." his beer breath closing-in fast
                                                                         to her pearl-spangled ear.

"Annie, Did you cast your vote for me tonight?" asked the eventual vote winner

                                                                              for "Treasurer" later that evening.

                                                                              

contact information:

D’Elia
C/O Bedford Street Consortium

Eastside hub of the district.

City.

-Evelyne deMarco is among the living-

Antoine deMarco,

the great and terrible classroom nuisance,

sat in the last row, the chair of his desk leaning
against the wall on timid rear legs

challenging the laws of gravitation
as well as the laws of physics and yet
he placed far below the fundamental
grading requirements in both math and science.

the obituary was written in the terse manner

with which it should have been read:

"Antoine deMarco was an employee

of “Troy Refrigeration and Heating Co”.

He leaves behind his mother, his wife, Teresa,..

says here, he was a "faithful congregant

of Saint Anthony of Padua Church"

which I find to be a hard sell, but in all, 
the obit was a fundamentally believable read.

also listed as a survivor, one younger sister,

Evelyne deMarco Mello of Brewster, Massachusetts.

(Evelyne is remembered here as shyly following Antoine

through the school system, 2 grades behind, studious

and reserved, and it does my heart good to know that she is living.)