Scenes reclaimed from a mid-century urban
childhood: the weathered doors and sagging
stoops of ancient storefronts, the gleaming metal
maze of a street-corner industrial plant, the
chiaroscuro of late afternoon sun raking across
the facades of factories, the infinite beauty of time-
worn brick, the shadows cast by looming, octopus-
armed electric standards—these define the city
once known to many of us, a city that, sadly, has
all but disappeared.