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TITLE (EDIT)
904 North |
DESCRIPTION
A tale in verse form about a middle-aged musician/writer down on his luck and recently divorced (again) who moves into a high rise apartment on the ninth floor, which happens to be the same suite a young woman jumped to her death twenty years ago.
A little history about my idea for this tale. I am also a musician, I like to write, and I do live in a place called 904 North building. I was told that several years ago, a young girl jumped to her death from the ninth floor. I have never tried to find out the apartment number and I don't really want to know. After you read the poem you will understand why.
[1,479 words] |
AUTHOR
Richard Koss |
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Richard Koss, other titles
[November 2001] |
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL ADDRESS
taxtime@ameritech.net |
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (47)
A New Perspective (Essays) A different perspective on the 911 tragedy and its aftermath. [614 words]
Are We There Yet? (Essays) An essay I never thought I'd have to write followed by a question I never thought I would have to ask. [1,013 words]
Asleep At Last (Poetry) A man in a hospital bed is having difficulty falling asleep, but he soon will... [152 words]
Bad Boy (Short Stories) A true story about a bad boy growing up in 1950. Was he just mischievous? Would his behavior be considered bad today? [2,844 words]
Charlie And Mrs. Miller (Short Stories) A very short story about an old woman on her death bed whose last request is to see an old friend, much to the surprise of her daughters and granddaughters. [585 words]
Deja Vu (Poetry) In times like these, pacifists come out of the woodwork. This poem was written in anticipation of what we can expect from them. [106 words]
Empty Closets (Poetry) A poem which no doubt, is controversial. I'm sure many will consider it homophobic, (a stupid word) but if liberals are sincere in their belief that everyone is entitled to free speech and opinions, t... [223 words]
Family Genes Considered (Short Stories) A story that is unfortunately, much closer to the truth than not. Although the main character is fictional, the relatives described are quite real, which gives me reason to often ponder my own destin... [1,198 words]
Fatal Perception (Short Stories) An off-beat tale about an aging song writer who perceives he is being stalked by a strange little man. [2,959 words]
Goodbye America (Essays) An essay written by an aging writer who no longer understands the country in which he lives. [662 words]
Hooked (Short Stories) A short short story originally started as a poem, about a man's obsession with a special kind of woman. (Revised June 2001) [323 words] [Fantasy]
How To Fool Most Of The People Most Of The Time (Essays) An essay commenting on the recent election results. [1,530 words]
Know It? - I Wrote It (Short Stories) This is a funny, perhaps silly, outrageous story. I'm not sure of its exact origin, but I must forewarn you. I don't generally make use of extreme vulgarity or profanity in my writing, but in this c... [663 words]
Lost And Found (Poetry) A poem that was originally written as a lyric several years ago for a country western song. [156 words]
Madelaine (Short Stories) An eerie tale set in the modern day Pacific Northwest about a family's nightmarish encounter with a character from a legend with a darkside. [8,451 words]
Moral Values - Who Needs Them? (Essays) An essay. [771 words]
Muriel's Funeral (Short Stories) Imagine yourself dead and observing your own funeral What would you expect to see? You might be surprised. [736 words]
My Three Loves (Poetry) A poem about the three things in life that keep a man going. (At least from one man's perspective.) [101 words]
My Wife Is Missing (Poetry) A poem (well sort of a poem) which raises the question of who is most dear to us. [117 words] [Relationships]
Nostalgic On A Bridge To Nowhere (Poetry) A nostalgic view of the life of a man in his twilight years. [369 words]
Over A Hundred Years Later Nothing New About Progressives (Essays) An essay revealing the fact that progressives haven't progressed much in over a hundred years. [1,317 words]
Please Read My Poem - Again (Poetry) The inspiration for this poem came to me after reading several poems (good and bad) posted on Storymania, as well as their reviews. The poem is directed primarily at the very young, talented writers w... [195 words]
Raindrops (Short Stories) Ever think twice about shopping alone at night. You should - especially if you're a pretty woman. [1,469 words]
Requiem For A Bodybuilder (Poetry) What happens to bodybuilders when they cease pumping iron? [54 words]
Save The Planet – More Fiction Than Fact (Essays) An essay. [1,537 words]
Shirley's Angel (Short Stories) A Christmas story: In the final analysis, we may discover that we love someone because of their vulnerability, rather than in spite of it. [2,228 words]
Still Unsolved (Short Stories) A successful mystery writer returns to his old home town and recalls an unsolved mystery he never wrote about. [2,136 words]
Symbolism Over Substance – The Liberal Manifesto (Essays) A non-fiction essay about liberal ideology and its influence on today's U.S. and world culture. [1,229 words]
The Absolution Of Margaret (Short Stories) A story about life in the confessional booth of a Catholic church. [549 words]
The Better Man (Poetry) A poem about a lonely, young, soldier wating for a train to take him back to base. He becomes enamored with a lovely young girl sitting across from him. Although they never speak to each other, the ... [238 words]
The Diversity Mystique (Essays) The ultimate hype of political correctness. [1,083 words]
The Dowry (Short Stories) The Dowry is a story set in or around the year 2020, so I suppose you should consider it science fiction. But it is also a story of romance with the ending more than a mere possibility. [2,448 words]
The Farnsworth Affair (Short Stories) An innocent man becomes trapped in a web of circumstance from which there is no escape. A somewhat more lengthy story than I usually write. This is a suspense story in the mold of the English mystery... [5,045 words]
The Girl In The Taxi (Short Stories) A shy, young man has an erotic encounter with a strange girl. Is it real or just a dream? [1,493 words] [Erotic]
The Incurable Cynic (Poetry) A man reflects upon his life of cynicism. [143 words]
The Perfect Ending (Short Stories) A tale about a wanna-be writer trying to create a story with the perfect ending. With unsuspecting help from his wife, he succeds, but pays the ultimate price. [642 words]
The Price Of Freedom (2) (Short Stories) A short story. [396 words]
The Rhyme Of Eternal Triangles (Poetry) A poem that describes in a silly, funny way, the futility of wanting someone who doesn't want you. [223 words]
The Song That Failed (Short Stories) A somewhat dubious account of an amateur song writer's ill-fated chance at success. [156 words] [Humor]
The Waitress Fom Hell (Short Stories) The story of a patron's ongoing feud with an over-the-hill waitress. [750 words]
Think Before You Write (Essays) My observations, after reading the work of many aspiring young writers, prompted me to write this. It merely offers some common sense advice to any aspiring writer (including myself) and should not b... [988 words]
Tomorrow's Here (Poetry) The recent death of a friend inspired me to write a poem, which salutes this somewhat hapless, but likeable character. [114 words]
Victims (Poetry) A satirical poem that tells it like it is. The poem confronts a disturbing trend in our society - transferring blame to others instead of placing it squarely where it belongs. [255 words]
What A Pair (Ex-Husbands And Old Shoes) (Poetry) A symbolic poem comparing ex-husbands and old shoes. Some women divorce their husbands, expecting to find something better, only to realize eventually, that the grass is not always greener. [326 words]
What’S Wrong With Assimilation? (Essays) This essay was originally written in 2006 when the Senate was considering an Immigration reform bill, which of course, was not passed. [453 words]
While The Iron's Hot (Short Stories) The story of a woman, a victim of spousal abuse, and her solution to the problem. [774 words] [Relationships]
Wisdom - Lost With Tradition (Essays) An essay which compares the concept of traditional wisdom with the minds of today's intellectual elitists. [500 words]
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904 North
Richard Koss
“Get on with your life,”
said my second wife.
So I looked for a place to stay
on this side of town, that wasn’t run down,
and not too far away.
“Got one on the ninth floor
and I’ll soon have one on four,
if you wait a week or two.”
Now I’m not fond of heights, don’t even like kites,
but this place looked spotless and new.
So I moved to 904 north
and with me brought forth
my piano, my stuff, and my Sony.
Here I was once again, all alone in my den,
an exile from sweet matrimony.
I played, I wrote, I drank – alone.
Played that is, when I wasn’t stoned.
Loved the bite of gin and vermouth
and with each swallow, I’d often wallow
in the magic memories of my youth.
In the middle of a winter night
a sound I heard filled me with fright.
I heard a rap like – “ let me in.”
At my balcony door? Here on the ninth floor?
Probably just this lousy gin.
I laughed myself to sleep
but slumber wouldn’t keep.
I woke up in a freezing room.
First I’m shivering, then I’m quivering.
It felt like I was in a tomb.
The balcony door was open wide
as if by some invisible tide,
letting in the snow and bitter cold.
I know I locked that door. Did it just before, or…
did I? Damn! I must be getting old.
Other nights I heard the rapping,
sometimes just a gentle tapping
but the door was locked - made sure of that.
At first I came to doubt it, then I just forgot about it.
That is, until I met old Mr. Schatt.
Old man Schatt was eighty plus
and he was quite a feisty cuss,
that former superintendent here.
“Don’t get too close, you’ll get a dose,”
as he was apt to bend your ear.
But I did, one September night,
came in higher than a kite,
when he met me at the lobby door.
“I can always tell a piano playing fella
who lives up on the ninth floor.”
“That’s me,” I admitted,
now feeling committed.
His eyes followed me like a hound.
“You in suite 904?” I knew there was more
so I quietly sat myself down.
“Then you’ve heard of the sin
of sweet Jenny Lynn,
she lived in 904 you know.”
My face went blank and my heart sank
as he then began his tale of woe.
His story made me numb
and it was after midnight some,
when he left me in the lobby all alone.
Shaken by his tale, I began to feel frail
as an eerie chill went through my every bone.
I returned to my ninth floor suite
and from my balcony, began a retreat
as I stood by the fragile railing.
It was here Jenny Lynn, so tormented within,
that night, put an end to her ailing.
The old man said it happened after
a storm that shook every rafter
during the Winter of seventy-seven.
“Like an angel she played and to God I prayed,
please don’t keep her from heaven.”
A new obsession gripped me tightly
as I thought about her nightly
in those autumn weeks that followed.
I ceased the visits to my retreat.
Wouldn’t desecrate it with my feet,
for now I felt that ground was hallowed.
I longed to know just how and why.
How much was truth? How much a lie?
But there was no one to tell me more.
If her picture and story had some hint of glory,
I might at last distinguish truth from lore.
The librarian was very kind.
I copied all that we could find
in hope of discovering the truth.
Read it all three times or four, there on my floor
with my pitcher of gin and vermouth.
The newspaper stories were brief
and I felt cheated, as if some thief
had robbed me of her legacy.
She was just twenty-five, so young and alive,
quite pretty, it was plain to see.
They wrote of her musical fame
but hinted her family name
had been cursed by a troubled history.
A young protégé, well on her way,
who’s death remained a mystery.
As the winter months got colder,
I felt so tired, much older,
distraught, unable to play or write.
Now the rapping resumed and I felt consumed,
as I fought against each sleepless night.
Drinking no longer left me sedated
and I now became someone I hated.
I tried reading and writing in bed.
But each futile attempt to relieve self-contempt,
left me mourning her picture instead.
Christmas found me quite a lonely man.
My life in disarray, I had no plan.
Couldn’t even open my mail.
Then came a storm in true Winter form,
attacking my door with hail.
The hail and wind became much stronger
and when I couldn’t bear it any longer,
I angrily opened my balcony door.
No hailing, no snowing, just a strong wind blowing.
A wind which knocked me to the floor.
I closed the door, the wind was still,
and I stood silent as an icy chill
remained within the room.
The power went out, there was something about.
In the dark, I felt a presence loom.
To this very day,
what happened I’ll say
was far beyond my knowing.
There on the panel of my digital piano,
the tiny red lights were glowing.
As if commanded, it obeyed
and I listened as it played
so sweet and loud and clear.
An electrical force, that’s it, of course!
The demo tape is what I hear.
The demo tape I chose to leave in
played Chopin, Liszt, and even
the great Rachmaninoff.
I remembered each gem, it was not one of them.
And outside all the lights were off.
It was melodic, yet technical,
a rich, haunting spectacle -
an orgy of listening pleasure.
This was truly a test, for only the best
would attempt this challenging treasure.
A sonata in C sharp,
I thought in the dark,
as it played to its conclusion.
In silence, content, I then savored the scent
of this beautiful, strange intrusion.
Then the darkness was gone
as the night lamp came on
and I saw the city lights returning.
As I stood out there in the cold fresh air,
a calmness now covered my yearning.
Slept well that night at last,
but woke up pretty fast
to a voice on my answering machine.
“Please don’t play after ten, must I ask you again?”
It was only my neighbor, Eileen.
Now I knew it wasn’t a dream
or the inspirational scheme
of a lonely man going mad.
My newfound refrain, would I hear it again?
All at once I felt quite sad.
I waited for her to play again -
became so eager that now and then
I slept on my living room floor.
Then one night while napping, I heard the rapping
so I got up and opened the door.
As it began, I knew she’d repeat
those notes, so brilliant, so sweet,
with each magnificent chord.
With her spirit exploding, at last was unfolding,
true genius, no longer ignored.
Every night after that,
half awake I sat,
waiting for her to begin.
For her music I prayed, and once more she played
just for me, my Jenny Lynn.
Before her final vignette,
I inserted a blank cassette,
In hope of recording my treasure.
When I searched for sound, not a thing could be found.
No music, not even a measure.
That was her final curtain.
Of that I’m quite certain,
though I’d love to hear her play once more.
I’ve never learned why she returned,
perhaps it’s me she’s waiting for.
See her picture over there?
You wouldn’t think she had a care.
There’s nothing more that I can say
but before you go, I’d like to know
that you believe I heard her play.
Or am I a man whom you think of
as right on the brink of …
becoming a hopeless mental case?
No matter my friend, all things must end.
It’s time for me to leave this place.
***
EPILOGUE
The small crowd of tenants hovered
as the paramedics put the covered,
crushed and broken body in the van.
Some women sobbed softly, while others
continued their chatter, but among the latter,
there remained one silent old man.
In 904, the phone kept ringing
but the answering machine would soon intervene
once again, with its final singing.
ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGE:
“Sorry I can’t take your call,
I know it’s aggravating.
Don’t really know when we’ll talk again,
‘cause Jenny Lynn is waiting.”
BEEP…..!!!
EX-WIFE:
“You know I’m really tired of all these calls.
Where in God’s name have you been?
You live alone but you’re never home.
And just who the hell is Jenny Lynn?”
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READER'S REVIEWS (4)
DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.
"904 is a wonderful verse story which lingers in the mind for a long while. The author, for the most part, sticks to an aabcb rhyme pattern that is easy to take. I think it could be tightened in places but it's still a vivid rendering. Only the final stanza could use some work to keep the rhyme scheme consistent. Totally engrossing. Jenny Lind/Jenny Lynn..." -- Paul V. Fornatar, Chicago, Il.
"Hi, I'm an English student, i'm from Guatemala, Central America, i read this story that you published at Storymania.com, i got the chance to read it in a course. I was afraid of reading poetry bacause there is a lot of non common words, but this story i understood almost everything, i liked the mistery that you put int this story, and the rhyme, The other thing is that the story is really short so it gave the chance to read it carefully and enjoyed it. I also read two plus, Charly and Mrs. Miller and Shirley's Angel, thank you for the good job that you have done. Your Truly" -- Luis Felipe Giron.
"Mr Koss: My name is Angel and I am one of your readers and also a student of an English institution in Guatemala city called IGA. I am Spanish citizen and I´m 17, it´s really an honor to send you this e-mail because your writting has really opened my mind to a new way of reading and I gotta be honest it has been fun to read some of your stories since they are exciting and you never expect what´s gonna happen in the end of each story. When I read 904 North wich was the first story I got from you it pleased me and I couldn´t stop thinking what was going on but finaly when I got to the end of the story I thought of it as an unexpected end because I couldn´t imagine that the man who was telling the story actualy killed himself just to be with his dear Jenny Lynn. When I read the epilogue I thought that it was very creative. I must say that you are a great writer and I admire you very much. It has been an honor to have the chance to tell you my opinions about your stories and I hope to get any kind of answer from you Mr koss. Angel Juarez" -- ANGEL JUAREZ, Guatemala, Guatemala, Guatemala.
"Thank you both, Mr. Giron and Mr. Juarez for your kind and flattering remarks. On the contrary, Mr. Juarez, it is I who am honored by your enjoyment from reading my poem. That means more to me than getting paid by a magazine publisher. I sincerely mean that. " -- Richard.
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COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 1999 Richard Koss |
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
October 1999 |
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
3185
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