Home > Creative Writing > Poetry
Created on: August 31, 2007
THE HIDDEN COURTYARD
Two tall russet brick houses extend
back deep from the street: rounded wings
honeycombed with apartments frame
flagstone steps and porches in front of
latticed glass front doors; between them,
a cement path runs like a balloon's string
to an open space at their rear where glimpsed
evergreen shrubs hint a garden. A respite
from boxy cinderblock triple-deckers
(their walls cracked and plastered, their doorknobs falling
off at a touch) and empty lots
overrun by thorn bushes and fleabane.
In eight years here, I haven't taken the time
to learn what hides in that courtyard;
I imagine a flourishing, refreshing
retreat from consignment stores and pawn shops,
smashed whiskey bottles and crushed beer cans.
Now I'm moving. It would be a waste
to never discover what small, secret beauty
these houses shield from the city's trash.
The walkway leads to a gateless chain-link fence
tethering the houses to each other-unseen when I've
sped by on the street. Beyond, a strip of yard
enclosed by wilting yews, stunted cypresses.
A hollow along the left wall harbors
a concrete dais and granite bench,
designed like the marble ones in Roman villas,
where no one sits. The path twists right along the fence
and ends at the other building's steel service door,
which opens only for those paid to enter.
Learn more about this author, Robert Levine.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:
Poetry: Secrets
by Carol Gioia
She came rushing into life too soon,
resembling a tiny, wounded bird.
The doctors called her premature,
I called her, “My
by Phateful
The Box
Locked within
Secrets hide
A darkened space
Filled with lies
Shame and fear
Hold fast the key
Chained within
A child
I wish you had not told me
Things I didn't want to know.
Or taken me, in confidence,
To where I shouldn't go.
You shared deceit
by S Barnard
Secrets
Since childhood
All my secrets
With others I shared
Some with laughter
Others brought tears
None was kept
But
by Bob Mundle
The Simian Crease.
( In Chiromancy, the Simian Crease is a fusion of the heart and head lines on the palm of the hand, and
View All Articles on: Poetry: Secrets