February 2012
1 post
1 tag
market street
The wildlife is out in full force this morning on Market Street, swarming up and down both sides of the street in ones and twos and threes. As I’m waiting for the green on Ninth a bum stumbles out against the light and steps into traffic without bothering to look, ignoring the cacophony of horns as he slowly shuffles to the other side giving the finger to no one in particular. When I cross...
January 2012
5 posts
3 tags
Spofford Street
I don’t remember the first time I entered a brothel. All I remember was the churning in my stomach as each step toward the door took me closer to being inside. Over the years I made countless visits, the evenings blending together into one long night of miniskirts and eyeliner. I remember that each time I walked up the three brick steps to the gate, how the only light in the alleyway...
no reason at all.
You pull up to the red light at Larkin and stop, the car pointed east towards the Broadway tunnel. Maybe you’re bored. Maybe you have a passenger, the kind that you can tell likes it when a cabbie hits the gas and drives like he’s being chased by the cops with no intention of pulling over. Maybe you’re driving one of the Crown Vics that used to be a CHP patrol car – the kind with the ballast at...
You can’t set your watch by it, but it always happens. Sometime between seven and eight o’clock there is a shift and suddenly people are everywhere. The desolate streets of early morning joggers and day traders give way to sedan-clad commuters heading for the east bay, coffee-sipping secretaries in a-line skirts, elderly people at the bus stop, double parked delivery trucks, people on...
4 tags
nighttime in the sunlight
I can’t sleep with all the sirens and explosions and drunks wheeling up and down my block so I just lay in bed and listen to the sounds of squealing brakes, drunken revelers and the overhead bus lines crackle and hiss until it’s time to go do the job. For good luck and tradition, the first ride I give is free of charge, he asks if I’m sure and I say Merry New Year and from there...