Young grackle’s sweet call
Rises over traffic’s whoosh.
Another answers.
Runners get respite.
Rain abates, fades to thick mist.
Sneakers splash on stone.
Bedraggled pigeon.
Calm in storm, no time to groom.
Eat now, preen later.
Archive for SJ Rozan
Queens International Night Market
Went out to Jamaica, Queens, last night to the Night Market. Pop-up night markets like this — food (very cheap), local goods, music — are common in Asia, taking over parking lots, plazas, and sometimes (e.g. Hong Kong) entire streets. They’re a new phenomenon in the US, but I sure hope they catch on!
The night
The market
The food!
More on Flickr.
Thirty-ninth Saturday
Long yellow kayak —
Oarsman in bright green neon —
Slides through blue water.
Walkers and runners
Sprint, stroll, amble, gallop, trot
By flowing river.
Popemobile passing.
Hovering helicopters
Reporting the news.
(I know, two Saturdays are missing. I wrote them, I just can’t find them. That’s what I get for keeping so many notebooks. They’ll turn up.)
Thirty-sixth Saturday, twenty-one days late
Sparrow on railing
Drops down, hides behind seawall
Until runner’s gone.
Park’s grass is still green
But in canopy above
Leaf tips turning brown.
White gulls, still water,
Smudged pale cotton clouds, blue sky,
Gray slate, black shadows.
May you be written down in the Book of Life…
…for a sweet New Year. It’s about to be Yom Kippur, so I’m signing off for the next 24 hours, but I wouldn’t want you to miss me. So here’s something to contemplate: me on a camel in the Gobi Desert. See you on the other side.
I love New York
66th Street, south side, from the north side
66th St, north side, from the south side
New stories
We’re having technical difficulties with the Mongolia photos here at SJ Central but the computer and I have an appointment at the Genius Bar tomorrow so I have full confidence I’ll be able to inundate you soon. Meanwhile, I have stories in a few recent and upcoming volumes you might have missed.
Coming in October, HANZAI JAPAN, which contains the first new Lydia Chin/Bill Smith story in a long time.
Launching October 1 at Mysterious Bookshop in NYC, JEWISH NOIR.
And available today, PROTECTORS 2, HEROES, which is a fund-raiser for the National Association to Protect Children.
I’ll be at the JEWISH NOIR launch,
and at the first Noir at the Bar in Queens, on Oct. 16.
Between them, I’ll be in Jersey City, talking noir with Suzanne Solomon.
And of course, I’ll be at Bouchercon.
So see, even when the tech doesn’t work so well, I can still offer you things to read and places to go. See you soon!
Thirty-fifth Saturday, from eastern Mongolia, 14 days late
Raindrops drum on roof.
Thunder rumbles, lightning bursts.
Tent stays warm and dry.
Bowing steppe grasses
Turning brown at summer’s end
Ready for harvest.
Gazelles pause on ridge,
Pour down hillside like water,
Flow into valley.
Thirty-fourth Saturday, from the Gobi, 21 days late
Moon’s set, stars shining.
Strange constellations appear.
Sky is black velvet.
Orange horizon.
Light floods over dark hillside.
Waving grass glows green.
Coffee water boils.
Metal spoons clink in glass mugs.
Air is cool and sharp.
Thirty-third Saturday, from the Gobi, 28 days late
Dawn in the Gobi.
Shadow of each rounded ger
Reaches for the next.
Desert basketball.
Shirts and skins, jumpshots, layups —
Just like anywhere.
Unexpected rain!
Roads wash out, tourist camps flood.
Camelgrass is lush.
