SAN FRANCISCO POETS
Ana Elsner
ABOUT THE AUTHOR;
NORTH BEACH -
As observed and pinned down by Ana Elsner
The local gentry perched high on the adjacent hill
lords it over this beach that, in reality, is no beach at all,
but rather a dense cluster of time-worn and cramped dwellings,
criss-crossed by narrow streets and alleyways,
and huddled around a most curious
two-hundred-ten foot skyward-pointing concrete nozzle.Once bordering the waters of the Bay
(hence the name ‘North Beach’),
it is now landlocked and a world onto itself.Its doorways littered by the stains and the debris
that’s left behind by nightly squatters.The many pungent odors emanating from greasy kitchens
co-mingle with the distinctive, ever-present smell of cockroach-poison.
Two churches anchor this encapsulated quarter
and a park serves as the village square.Some of the multihued inhabitants of this unique community
shut themselves off behind their creaky doors and drafty windows,
while others seek escape from the confinement of their dingy rooms and flats
by frequenting the numerous cheap eateries and bars,
and congregating inside and around
the old, familiar and tread-bare corner café
for their much-needed fix of comfort and communion.The white noise of the ever sputtering and hissing espresso machine
provides a soothing background for the scribblings on frayed pages,
the doodlings on napkins or in tattered notebooks,
the animated debates about art, politics, literature and philosophy,
or the silent and solitary perusal of the local free rag.Outside on the sidewalk
Chinese mothers drag their chattering brood behind them,
while carrying plastic sacks filled with bok-choy and chicken gizzards,
and with un-seeing eyes pass by the neighborhood drunks,
that rant and bellow loudly to an imaginary audience.Those unemployed and unemployable regulars of the café,
the ones on welfare who can least afford to do so,
give quarters and cigarettes to the multitude of homeless beggars.
These generous souls, who find themselves teetering on the brink of skid row,
are compelled by a true sense of recognition of privation and of dire need.
Meanwhile, the more fortunate among the café crowd
stare coldly into space
and turn to face away from outstretched hands and muttered pleas for help.The neon tourist-glitz of the main thoroughfare is, by common consent, strictly to be avoided.
The many out-of-towners who regularly invade the local turf
to ogle and to reassure themselves
of their suburban and bourgeois superiority,
those interlopers are dismissively ignored,
or merely looked upon with furtive glances of disdain.And life goes on, and like so many grains of sand,
that make up this most unconventional of beaches,
the individual is but a tiny part
of this forever undulating and, at the same time, comradely cohesive
village-scape
that is
NORTH BEACH.
©Ana Elsner
Ana Elsner poem Susie for Susan Birkeland
"CIPHERS Of Uncommon Origin
Poems by Ana Elsner"
Volume I
First Edition June 2007
Author-signed
copies are available by request.
Ana Elsner was born in post-war Germany and educated in Europe before she first came to live in the US. She straddles two continents and is tri-lingual. After taking early retirement, she turned her attention to matters close to her heart and engaged in writing, Human Rights activities, and supporting a variety of causes. Ana is a World-Citizen. Third eye turned inward.
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