Porches, Hari Bhatt

PORCHES

Hari Bhatt

It used to be just the stairs. Bleeding rust, coughing sand, chipping stone. Flanked by soft wood up to my neck on one side, hugged by the yellow house on the other.

I’d lean over the ledge on my tippy toes, even when I grew as tall as I could be. Balancing on the first step, digging my elbows into the notches in the white trim, careful to avoid the jutted, rusty nails.

I watched my neighbor’s houses grow old, I craned for a sliver of the beach. I waved at the passerby, and whistled at the cats as they ran from the shadows.

It was a solo activity. Room only for one body, Two elbows, ten toes. Thoughts in one mind, Echoed against themselves. No disagreements, no insecurities. Just one torso, propped up as long as could be.

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And now it’s much bigger. Hidden by a tree Or a bush, I truly can’t remember. Four chairs, one broken. A table, a drawer, an empty measuring cup. Nothing matches, everything belongs.

I sit in a chair, sipping tea or a beer. There’s space for another or another, or another. It’s hidden, not visible. I can see my neighbors entering and leaving across the street. One’s a squirrel.

Look left at a wall, three recycling bins to our one. There’s always a water gun sitting in one bin. To the right are unstrangers. We wave, we joke about the weather, reminisce about who came before.

Yet I still sit alone. Hidden and visible. Elbows crusted with wood, smelling of beer, sand stained stone. Room for more, always. But content alone and not alone. Neighbors & cats & wind & wood.

353 Tripod

A NEW KIND OF HOUSE

Rosalyn Cliett

Imagine a home surrounded by such beautiful ambience both inside and out. On the outside there are trees fully bloomed in greenery, and in the fall surrounds the building with such beautiful colors. There’s flowers and grass with benches throughout, where you could sit outside and read or write, socialize with friends and neighbors or lovers watching the steady stream of a peaceful river.

And on the inside there are potted plants and flowers. And ceilings with beautiful crystal, abstract lighting throughout the entire downstairs where there is a variety of rooms, rooms for Artistic Expressions of many kinds, dancing, singing, artwork, writing, music, and a room dedicated to the art of drama, be it play rehearsals or spoken word, with soundproof glass where needed. Rooms that could be used by any tenant That has scheduled an appointment, day and time. Every Saturday morning around 9am to 11:30 a.m. is a mandatory scheduled meeting for all of those who live, and work there... It’s a Prayer Breakfast where we come together in Unity. We have a Speaker for 30 minutes, then Prayer followed by an extremely large breakfast & Fellowship.

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The building itself runs on both solar power and normal utility power. They used solar, powered by the sun to help save on utility bills. The second and third levels, where each person’s domicile is, are very open and very spacious and with a touch of a switch or a spoken word, it became very private. Another added addition to help save on utility bills is light control. In the bathroom and bedroom, as you enter the room lights come on, as you exit the room lights go out. No more fussing at the kids. And on the rooftop there are four huge rooms for social gatherings for all kinds of events.

The lower part of the building is massive. A fully equipped and fully stocked kitchen is broken off in sections where we can cook, cater, and teach cooking classes. It also has two service elevators that go straight from the kitchen to the roof. The beauty of it all is when things are over and done with, we can return downstairs to our personal domiciles....SWEET!!!

357 Tripod