Fitchburg 1996
Before leaving
for the college town
where she imagines starting over,
she visits her grandmother’s city
where she imagines starting over,
she visits her grandmother’s city
one more time.
Next time
she’ll return for the funeral.
She’ll be whisked in and out.
she’ll return for the funeral.
She’ll be whisked in and out.
“Nothing to see
here. Nothing.”
The hearse will pull out
onto empty Summer Street.
The hearse will pull out
onto empty Summer Street.
This time the
granddaughter
departs from the depot
tucked behind Market Basket.
departs from the depot
tucked behind Market Basket.
The train
leaves precisely at five.
Heading for
Lunenburg Street,
she passes the smoke stack,
all that remains of the plant
she passes the smoke stack,
all that remains of the plant
where her grandparents met.
She pretends that her grandmother
still lives in her red house.
At practically
100, her life
would have shrunk to fit
into one room,
would have shrunk to fit
into one room,
television,
tables,
racks of clothing,
chairs, commode,
racks of clothing,
chairs, commode,
all obstacles
in a maze
that she would wander.
The kitchen,
that she would wander.
The kitchen,
the built-in
book shelves
of 1920s novels
(The Office Wife, The Private Life
of 1920s novels
(The Office Wife, The Private Life
of Helen of Troy)
might as well have been
in someone else’s house.
might as well have been
in someone else’s house.
The lilac
shading the porch
might as well
have not grown back.
might as well
have not grown back.
She thinks of
her grandmother,
her life shrunk to one bed
in one room in another city
her life shrunk to one bed
in one room in another city
and wonders if,
in her mind,
she wanders these streets
past stores now closed
she wanders these streets
past stores now closed
and homes now
vacant,
some even demolished,
if in her mind,
some even demolished,
if in her mind,
she is skipping uptown,
her city
burned into memory.
[Here is a picture of my grandmother's house. The late Angelee Deodhar
found that picture somewhere on the internet. I was amazed by that.
When my grandmother owned the house, it was much more attractive: gray
with red trim and lots of flowers in the yard. That house has been
through a lot since my grandmother sold it in 1978. --Marianne]
her city
burned into memory.
Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was settled in 1730 as part of Luneburg (which was founded in 1718 and officially incorporated in 1728). In 1764 Fitchburg incorporated as a separate town named after John Fitch, a member of the committee that procured the act of incorporation.
ReplyDelete"The Office Wife" by Faith Baldwin was published in 1929. In her 1978 her obituary in "The New York Times" claimed her 85 novels were popular because they "enabled lonely working people, young and old, to identify with her glamorous and wealthy characters." In 1936 she earned over $3000,000 (equivalent to over $4 million dollars today), and her works collectively sold over 10 million; her last novel was published in 1977, just before her death.
John Erskine taught English at Amherst College in Massachusetts and then Columbia University in New York, where he formulated in 1920 the General Honors Course which inspired the pedagogical approach to teaching "great books" to restore the Western Liberal Arts tradition to schools as a corrective to extreme disciplinary specialization. He also served as the 1st president of the Julliard School of Music and a director of the Metropolitan Opera Association. The author of over 100 books, he 1st achieved popular recognition for "The Private Life of Helen of Troy" (1925), and in 1931 he wrote the libretto for "Helen Retires," George Antheil's operatic adaptation of the novel.