Breath & Shadow
2007 - Vol. 4, Issue 3
"Feeling the Music"
Dawn Colclasure
My youngest sister walks through my front door, laughing. Apparently, the song I have playing on the TV's music channel, which I read is a New Kids on the Block tune, is considered "old." I hadn't realized the song was even playing, despite wearing a hearing aid that allows filtered noise to be "heard." I'd been busy cleaning house and playing the music for my daughter, a 2–year–old contentedly playing with her toys on the floor.
The music channel of choice? The 80s music, of course. It was in 1987 that I lost my hearing from spinal meningitis, and now all I remember are the songs I grew up singing and dancing to. With a country singer like Patsy Cline in the family tree and a songwriter responsible for the famous song "Waltz Me to Heaven" as my grandfather, you can bet music plays on in future generations — even if my world means that music is never heard.
"The Mascot"
Louise Norlie
Brian had just passed the Sports Mega Warehouse when heard his name called. He turned and recognized her immediately.
"Amy! What are you doing here?" The mall was so loud from the intersecting booms of distorted music that he shouted.
"I work here, of course!" she exclaimed. "Can you come in?" He pushed his wheelchair over the lip of the bright blue carpet. Sports jerseys, adorned with the logo of every imaginable team, hung from the ceiling. An array of baseball caps jutted their lids in tandem near the cashier's booth. Nike and Reebok boxes lined the walls. He hadn't been to such a store for so long that it interested him as a mere phenomenon of color and sound. Amy wore a mesh jersey emblazoned with the Sports Mega Warehouse symbol. Her hair was short and slicked back. Brian was amazed at how happy he was to see her.
"Troika Reigns"
Norman Meldrum
You may have noticed something new here at Breath & Shadow — and at AbilityMaine and ROSC. We're now sharing a top navigation bar to enable our mutual readers easy access to the three sites. Please note that the ROSC pages have recently expanded to include news and events that are important to the progressive community.
The story behind it all: The AbilityMaine site was originally conceived to be a stand–alone news and resource project for the use of people with disabilities. For the first few years that's what the site contained.
StaffShot of John Allen, Poetry Editor
Arden Hill
Arden: Where did you grow up?
John: I grew up in Albany, New York. Like everyone who has lived in a certain area for a long time, I tend to deprecate a lot of the more positive aspects of it. I've traveled pretty extensively in the sense of living other places — I lived in Washington Heights off and on when I was younger, and my big dream is to live in NYC — but I've always ended up back here for some reason. Living in an urban area has, for better or worse, basically shaped my poetry and will probably to continue to inform any creative work I engage in.
Where do you live now?
Albany. The one thing I can't stand about it is that there aren't many networks for poetry or the arts. There's only one museum and there's an "Albany Poets" group but it has more to do with socializing and doing "performance poetry" than working on the stuff and reading it.