WHISTLING SHADE

ADVERTISEMENT

Alone in a Theater

by B.Z. Niditch

Alone in a theater

Watching an Italian film

a post-war neo-realist one

even when it freezes

in the thin, cold air theater,

from low voices

about occupation

humanity being stepped on

near monuments,

tourists gather

after the movie

watching a young sax player

with a foreign cadence,

hearing Coltrane's riffs.