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in the tavern on a business day. My parents banned me from the premises, with one excep- tion: until I left for college, I could drive down early on Sunday mornings to do the books.
Early Sundays were quiet on Kresson Street, people sleeping it off, some of the men working overtime shifts at Crown Cork and Seal. All the bars were closed, though they could have opened up at 6 a.m. if they’d wanted, city laws allowed that. I only had to check the register tapes, run the expenses, record the receipts, and use the adding machine to do the rest. Most Sundays,
the sun found its way in through the glass bricks
and spilled onto the grill and the shiny bar top. The din of talking, the curls of blue cigarette smoke and the clink of glasses were gone. I sat in my father’s old chair, where I used to curl up to read when I was younger. I tuned the radio to my favorite station, turned the volume up, and went to work with a sharp number two pencil, scrupu- lously inscribing the numbers into the ledger.
Viti is a senior lecturer in the Writing Program at Wellesley College.
She is the author of a chapbook, Baltimore Girls (Finishing Line Press, 2017), and a microchapbook, Punting (Origami Poems Project 2018). She has also published most recently in The End of 83, I Come From The World, Lost Sparrow, Pen-in- Hand, Light, The South Florida Poetry Journal, and Tin Lunchbox.
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Elestial Growth Smoky Quartz with Amethyst Zoning oil on canvas 48'' x 48'' By Chloe Hedden