Poem by Ruth Lehrer

City Sounds

I knew a man who soundproofed
his Fenway apartment with egg
cartons. Was it heat? Was it art?
Glued up on the ceiling with egg white or poop
I didn’t ask
He took me to the roof
and tried to kiss—an old egg carton pucker
But his old man sweater smelled
like bad egg and cat pee
and so I said no thanks
He was married
after a fashion
twice
He couldn’t see well
after a fashion
once
Did he hear those city egg cartons scream?
I didn’t ask.

Ruth Lehrer is a writer and sign language interpreter living in western Massachusetts. Her writing has been published in journals such as Trivia: Voices of Feminism, Everyday Genius, Meat for Tea, and Biostories.

Ira Joel Haber was born and lives in Brooklyn. He is a sculptor, painter, book dealer, photographer and teacher. His work has been seen in numerous group shows both in USA and Europe and he has had 9 one man shows including several retrospectives of his sculpture. His work is in the collections of The Whitney Museum Of American Art, New York University, The Guggenheim Museum, The Hirshhorn Museum and The Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Since 2007 His paintings, drawings, photographs and collages have been published in over 160 on line and print magazines. He has received three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, two Pollock-Krasner grants, the Adolph Gottlieb Foundation grant and, in 2010, he received a grant from Artists’ Fellowship Inc. He currently teaches art to retired public school teachers at The United Federation of Teachers program in Brooklyn.