"Royale Market" by Martina Reisz Newberry

Royale Market

The owner of the Royale Market on Garfield Place
sweeps the concrete in front of his tiny grocery
at least five times a day. He gets little traffic there, and,
when I asked him why he swept so often, he said,
So that the sidewalk will remember what it is for.

mARTINA rEISZ nEWBERRY

Martina Reisz Newberry is the author of seven books of poetry. Her most recent book is Glyphs, available now from Deerbrook Editions. She has been included in Cog, Blue Nib, Braided Way, Roanoke Review, THAT Literary Review, Mortar Magazine, and many other literary magazines and anthologies in the U.S. and abroad. She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo Colony for the Arts, Djerassi Colony for the Arts, and Anderson Center for Disciplinary Arts. Passionate in her love for Los Angeles, Martina currently lives there with her husband, Brian, a media creative. Her city is often a “player” in her poems.

Headshot: Meg McConnaughey

Photo Credit: Staff