Yesterday I climbed the stairs
and took the “L”
to 1965
where I was stuck
in the heart
of downtown Chicago
waiting for my grandmother
to finish her shift
in the coat department
at Three Sisters
so she could treat me
to a luxurious dinner
at Fritzel’s
before she disappeared
into the elevated train
that carried her
to a station
near her studio apartment
in a third-floor walk-up
on Lawrence Avenue
where she turned on the TV
for company
to drown out the noise
rattling
from the tracks.
from Stranger by Night by Edward Hirsch (Knopf, 2020). First published in Five Points.