HAUNTING THE STREET
By Alison McLennan
Photography: Utah State Historical Society and Michael Ash
The ghosts of 25th Street are two sheets to the wind, flapping
stains remain embedded
a bullet in a brick wall where we feast on sushi
so far from the sea
One hundred and fifty years ago
the Saddle Rock Restaurant stood here advertising
“Oysters in Every Style”. They were carried from sea to mountains
on rail laid by broken backs; some never paid
Ice cream downstairs—Tarts upstairs
Soiled doves with clipped wings drowned in whiskey rivers
Porter’s Black and Tan, the back of a hand
barbed wire binding bodies of flesh and land
Today’s generation sips cocktails bearing the names: Gentile Kate, Belle London, Rose Davie
They watch the sun set and talk about consent, content while the dead women haunt the street
Alison McLennan, a graduate of the University of Utah and the Solstice M.F.A. program in creative writing, is the author of two historical novels — “Ophelia’s War” and “Ophelia’s War: Dangerous Mercy” — and a coming-of-age crime story, “Falling for Johnny.”