On a nearby corner people gather like twisted vines, listening to street rhythms and sidewalk music. Standing there was a rite of passage, an image statement of you. It’s where passions are formed and spirits blend, where names have value and brotherhood reigns. The traffic is a language in motion. A sound familiar and expected … More THE CORNER
Wall shadows of arms and legs randomly move about, voices flat and muted while hurrying past, each arriving someplace only they know. From a thick leather chair I observe the appetite of the city, sensing their anxious thirst to achieve that which was greater than yesterday. Rising from within the masses comes city … More A LOW GROWL
Where’s the song I remember? The one we all knew, at least some of us did. From radios on beaches, flowing out car windows and down hallways playing its tune. The song bridled a sweetness to the air, a message of words, a rhythm, where fingers tapped and heads nodded. Like life, things fade. Memories … More THAT SONG
A city rain fell in long lines, washing dust into gutters. Twilight, the mistrals of dark, waved hands of breezes over streets with quiet sounds. Engines of feet plodded into puddles, splashing wetness with disregard. Night dreams creep from open windows. The sound of doors mark the clock of darkness. Bedroom … More ASHES
Blue heavens and fair winds Find favor above clouds. A multiple spattering of voices linger under a sea of skies, busily reshaping without notice from below. A misty day resembling spilled wax quiets travelers; hands hold subway handles and scratched gray metal poles. Fast with a furious sway the tunneling of trench coats and briefcases … More UNDERGROUND
The crossing of shadows marks street windows with blurred reflections absent of color. Quick steps and shoulders slip the stream. The sidewalk is a meadow of shoes, turning, twisting, scuffed and shined, all with purpose and impatience. The people are a mix of ragged granules; the sands of a city shoreline on the move. Eye … More RAGGED GRANULES
Wide streets cluttered with life. Threads of voices. Open market. Awnings with stripes. Aprons with pockets. Busy hands, strong and soft. Silk skirts. Cut flowers, carnation strong. Youth with a vision. The world moving on sidewalks. Colorful hydrants. White walled tires. Black Cadillac’s. Patent leather shoes. Gold chains. Grandmothers watching. Package store drinkers. Trucks and … More HARLEM
The sight of day vanishes as if cut. Underground tremors release into tunnels creating monster echoes. The train becomes absorbed in an ocean of dark air. Doors fling open. Warm gaseous fumes slap morning faces. The platform fills with legs and shoes and eyes looking down; children are still home in bed. The atrium fills … More ARRIVING
The brashness of a gray afternoon curses at roadside bars, all night diners and clotheslines resembling sagging roadmaps. Mud flaps proselytize to the lost while angels search for the abandoned; neon lights tempt the lonely from corners. In the distance, a city. A breath spread wide of buildings and faces, where evil drains into collars … More A CITY
I vision a place safe without loss, the beginning of new, the opening on all sides where anyone can relax and sing. It’s a shadow of a place, harbored beyond envy and hate, turmoil and strife. It’s the next train with an open boxcar. A bus sounding loud on a dusty road. A car with … More OUT THERE
Roger Singer 