A First Walk

The poverty of Africa
is an engine, a pool
of mud where birth and death
mean mostly the same.
I cannot begin to understand
her ranting on the corner:
She sent her boy to cut me!
her jaw abscessed for weeks now
as a nurse I beg to look in
between her clenched and mighty teeth-
yellow polish
on her black black hands
studded with grains of sand
from a bottle nearly empty
congealed -
what kind of jaundiced beauty
this?  How terrifying.
As passers-by stop to stare.

-at me, not her.

True Love America

Begins near 20 and 24th
streets in Monro-via,
in front of the JFK
Memorial hospital-
People go there to die and work,
limping in and out
on one leg, maybe two
but most never go and the girl
at the bus stop sells used towels,
your uncle Ned's pajamas
to a Godwin or Cornelius.
These clean people have hearts
inside their hearts
bigger than the Mets versus the Yankees
times the Sox.
Their love is ne plus ultra.

W. K. Vanderslice Silver Cup and Saucer

Gothic Revival silver cup and underliner made in the middle of the 19th century by one of the important American silver makers of San Francisco.  Probably made of coin silver with a nice warm patina.  Beautiful condition without dents, damage or repair.  Gilded interior.  Exterior embossed with a fine Gothic Revival pattern and monogrammed/engraved for the child John B. Daggett (both pieces/matching set) in a Gothic Revival script.  Marked 810 Montgomery St. San Francisco California with the makers mark below.  Machine turned, hand engraved/embossed.  Lovely lovely find!

I noticed it at the Salvation Army and wasn't too sure as the price sure was steep....10 bucks for the pair.  I hedged my bets and took a chance without knowing the history of the company or the composition of the piece which at the time I took for silver plate (most likely).  The gilded interior threw me off as it seemd to be a sign of silver plate on copper with the base metal exposed.