Log In
Or create an account ->
Imperial Library
Home
About
News
Upload
Forum
Help
Login/SignUp
Index
December 1961 In some empty hall, my brother is still singing. His voice hasn’t dampened yet. Not
Winter, Around 1950 But no one ever really knew that voice except his family, singing together on
My Brother’s Face My brother’s face was a school of fishes. His grin was not one thing, but a hun
Easter, 1939 This day, a nation turns out for its own wake. The air is raw, but scrubbed by last
My Brother as the Student Prince Jonah moved up to the Boylston Academy of Music in the fall of 1
My Brother as Hänsel Did the boy soprano think he, too, was white? He didn’t have that name yet,
In Trutina At the next summer recess, Jonah told Da they didn’t need to come up to Boston to take
Late 1843—Early 1935 Delia Daley was light. In the gaze of this country: not quite. America says
A Tempo Clever Hänsel’s voice has broken and won’t ever be put back together. “Breaking,” Da tell
August 1955 Now is a full summer’s end. The boy is fourteen, a shining child with a full, round f
My Brother as Aeneas To my ear, his laugh at fourteen had no bitter highlights yet. I’d swear he
April—May 1939 She was back in Philly on the 2:00A .M. train. That very same night. No time at al
Bist Du Bei Mir We went back home with Da. I say “home,” but the place was gone. We stood in fron
Spring 1949 I’m seven years old when our father tells me the secret of time. We’re halfway up the
My Brother as Orpheus The fire didn’t kill her, Da said. “She would have lost awareness a long t
Not Exactly One of Us Nettie Ellen takes the news in silence, as she does everything that the whi
My Brother as Otello Carolina asks, “What exactly are you boys?” And our answer drops on us, over
August 1963 They gather at the base of the Washington Monument. People pour in from wherever ther
Spring 1940—Winter 1941 David Strom married Delia Daley in Philadelphia on April 9, 1940. As the
December 1964 We’re all four home for Christmas, Ruth’s second winter vacation since starting col
My Brother as Faust Fame caught Jonah when he was twenty-four. It felt as if he’d been singing li
Summer 1941—Fall 1944 She’s known the song her whole life. But Delia Daley never heard the full v
My Brother as Loge I listen to Jonah’s recording, and the year comes back intact. Comes back , as
August 1945 Delia’s on the A when she sees the headline. Not by law a Jim Crow car, but the law’s
Songs of a Wayfarer Jonah left the United States at the end of 1968. No high-art gossip column re
Autumn 1945 She turns to see her JoJo, the little one, standing in his doorway, holding his ice b
Don Giovanni Half a dozen places in Atlantic City might have hired me. This was the early 1970s,
November 1945—August 1953 Rootie comes. “It’s a miracle,” Da says. That much is obvious, even to
Meistersinger He met me at Zaventem Airport, Brussels, like a limo driver looking for his fare, h
The Visitation During the call to Philadelphia, Jonah hovered at my elbow. But he wouldn’t take t
Deep River This is how time runs: like some stoked-up, stage-sick kid in his first talent show. O
Requiem We buried Jonah in Philadelphia, in the family cemetery. A month later, Ruth and I flew o
Thee The boy is lost, cutting back and forth in the indifferent crowd, on the verge of howling. A
← Prev
Back
Next →
← Prev
Back
Next →