Rear Window

I said goodbye to this window today. It was good and necessary and proper that we left this window behind, because the place it was part of was too small, and had been for years. But that little place was the lifeboat where we rode out the squalls of Covid, and did so admirably.

Specifically, I spent a lot of time sitting at this window, looking out at the park. I watched people sneaking out for sunshine and air like middle schoolers making clandestine cigarette rendezvous, scanning every direction in an uneasy truce with masked strangers. I watched happily unaware dogs get brief romps before being hurried back inside like the city had a wild griffin population.

Sitting on a little window bench, with my laptop on a little tray table, I did many other things too. Wrote stories, watched shows, and posted on this very blog. My window nook was also the spot where I recorded the Soothe Sessions. One of a number of artistic projects I gave myself, this was my way of helping my friends stay sane. I just sat at the window and read poems. It was a beautiful little time in a big scary time. It was a frail bubble of peace that somehow kept the howling storm of Covid at bay, a little bit at a time.

Thanks, window, for letting my mind wander when my body couldn’t.