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A weekly video reading of poetry by the poet.
86th Street
by Paula Camacho
By the time it was over they were gone
the five movie theaters, Woolworth’s
Grants, the Corso dance hall, were gangly
men eyed their prey of fluttering women,
the Berlin Bar where the best hot dogs
in the world were consumed,
where my mother saw a stranger
with empty eyes and bought him one,
Bauer’s Bakery with its tutti fruity
rolls full of pistachio or strawberry filling,
the Ideal Restaurant where my father sat at
a counter to eat bread and soup. By the
time I was a teenager the Third Avenue El
was an old lady. They tore her down.
We moved to the Bronx while they
renovated Manhattan. We never moved back .
Once I went to find the Yorkville of my youth.
It was gone and a stranger cast my shadow.
From Hidden Between Branches.