-compass heading south by west to the snapshots-

the southwest corner at 1017 Bedford, City,

the backside of the house near the drainpipe.

this is where we navigate to pose stone-cold for photographs.
one could say it started with maternal grandparents, then

to parents, in turn passed to us, the three kids in residence.

others showed-up, too.

cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, kids on bikes,

kids scheming to bypass adult restrictions, catholic

schoolgirls in blue rayon jumpers with boyfriends in white cotton

teeshirts displaying soft-packs of cigarettes as a rite of passage to manhood.

inside, this is where the kitchen sink was located and

to its right, a small counter space where

the chickens were plucked and their feet

removed for the broth of my grandfather’s soup.

outside again and the southwest corner is active with temporary figureheads 

giving way to others who long to see themselves captured in miniature form.

(It's a small patch of ground; a plot of land to be entered upon,
recorded for posterity, then vacated the way God intended)

the posing are facing westward toward the grapevine, slightly

to the south of their elbows, the craggy vegetable garden to the east

and Rachlin’s Junkyard in dead-ahead reckoning

just over the fence across Healy.

so that’s where we are in the time of Eisenhower and Stevenson, 

my young parents reportedly casting votes for Adlai,

henceforth referred to as a "great American statesman" by Democrats

and Republicans including Ike, alike.


Fall River / Quequechan / City, 1952