1953 / Saturday and a man sits at the table waiting for the bills to come in the mail

mid-afternoon and the kitchen table is set.

something is placed in the middle of the table.

could be anything as long as it’s something placed in the middle.

an empty vase. a vase with pussy willows. 

something borrowed from the parlor. a figurine.

something of an afterthought. a bowl from the pantry.

and at the edge of the table a man waits for the mail.

he smokes a cigarette. could be Lucky Strike, could be Chesterfield.

an ashtray smudged with an ash-burned image of “the old man in the mountain”

a souvenir from New Hampshire, sits upon the table and at the edge, the man

smokes another one, could be Camel, waiting for the bills to come in the mail.

vignette