A COMMINGLING ON WHITE STREET

273. A COMMINGLING ON WHITE STREET:

So here we have the 'powderhouse verve' - a reaction unlike any other something a separateness of living-to-live and Humanity - all of it - growing with every evening spray of light along glassed windows arrayed one after another with pictured logos - the words made flesh - depicting every pose of Mankind known with backlit energy and dingy dark-lit storeroom activities like the cobbler with his Cat's Paw soles bent serenely over the work table filled with shoes his leather apron in perfect shape the small tack hammer the bottoms of shoes turned upward up the little shoe-form work-vice over which he goes about his silent single task - the work of a life without a mask - heels and tips and polish and oils : the stonemason with his chisels and tools to drill and scratch and cut and etch and dig : the seamstress with her needles and sewing machines foot-treadle revolving wheel bobbin walker cloth : the woodmason with plane and hammer and rasp and saw and the polished finish of all and varied woods : the cabinet-maker with his forms the antiques artisan and his collected craft-period furnitures and fixtures the jumble of everything all thrown about on multi-leveled floors awaiting eyes and hands and bottoms : the mason and the writer and the bookbinder and the cook - glue seams paper print woods nails meats sauces crates and bushels the lawman the pistol-seller in his police shop the ragman the picker the dressmaker the dress-seller the carriage trade the horseman the pretzel guy the Chinese store the horseman and the lantern the Ming vase and the candle-shop the lancer and the driver drover teamster packhorse mover lifter weigher measurer accountant taxman preacher the purveyor of everything the glassman the glazier the painter the bakery the club the glass-blower sheet-glass window shop putty mirrors the zinc-baker chemistry man the bleeder the cutter the bishop the undertaker the gypsy fortune-teller open-window-shopfront the gravedigger the builder the plumber the fencemaker and all the rest every endeavor for which Mankind has grown a need and arisen and come to be the fruit-seller the vendor the cooker the cutter the slicer the butcher the farmhand the herdsman the killer the iceman the picker the broom-sweep the parsonage-keeper the sexton the bell-tower attendant and the accumulated everything of everyone existent and present - or - ALL Mankind YES! - it is that for which the graying light descends and tints all the windows with a blazing yellow-gold fire tinged red air and light with people walking to leave to board the train the steamer the ferry the tram the taxi the bus and all the endless rows of people picking through bread and rolls and candies and snacks the tubuler assortment of one vast lifetime of want the people in need and want in pain the aches the itches the rashes the causes and colds the cancers and the breaks the illnesses and the broken bones and limbs and injuries and unheard news and the stories the arrivals and departures the hordes boarding and disembarking the passings to and fro the goings and returnings and it is ALL that all for which the light develops and wanes and returns to color the fragmented glass of windows and cars and cabs and storefronts the newsman with blackened hands the waxy-eyed seller of stories and news the apron'd man the chestnut vendor taking glumly dim behind his wreath of smoke the charm of that smell the wants of kids and parents traipsing through Wintertime city streets or the wet sweats of Summer seeking cloths or clothes toys or trinkets gifts or things - any reason for coming out - the garish display the quiet display the air wrapped around light the sum and all and every total of each thing defining itself defining its season a tone a place a notion all humanity together and apart the words heard from the church doorways and organ musics shouted out careening around corners and passing trucks and buses and the crowds which linger to see what they may have left behind the Fifth Avenue lights the people in long coats and scarves and gloves the mufflers the mitts the boots the long-time destitute wares of all Summers too and Winter's sorry scape of clothing and layer and blanket and wool the sleighs with horses steamy-nosed in the evening darkness codding their hooves noisily and slow along the ancient and hardened street...