I lived on Newbury Street for five years from 1978 to 1983 in a small furnished room–271 Newbury Street in Boston. I shared that room with an occasional cockroach, mouse, and the infrequent visitor. Oddball Magazine has published a poem of mine that recalls those days.

Furnished Room Newbury Street, 1978

The raw, coiled
red glare
of the hot plate–
the urine stain
of a sink
and the waft
of Red Sauce
from Davio’s below–
The head
a short, anxious scamper

down the hall,
the hacking cough
of the retired civil servant

through a thin wall.
And the spinster
who peers from
the crack in her door
gathers her pennies
and courage
for her big trip
to the corner store,
the wooden ladder that
ascended to a tar roof
the sweet /sorrow scent of city, rain and sea…
and my youth…

– Doug Holder

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Doug Holder, 25 School St.; Somerville, MA 02143.
dougholder@post.harvard.edu