Julia Soto Lebentritt

Ode to a Yellow Fire Hydrant


Lamenting plug
of mustard iron
tricked into this fire hydrant,
your awkward plumbing exposed on the corner
like a crucified pigmy--
with hard bolts for sex and a suspiciously hollow-looking head
who would guess you suppress fountains?

But you never leave the curb,
strict Victorian root;
when even the traffic lights change
cars move
you are always the cold yellow nude
left behind.

Good for one
frog leap
dog piss…

Or perhaps one day
the firemen, handsome as gods, rushing
in on their blood-red engines--
but they never see
what they screw cold hose on.


Copyright 1976, Julia Soto Lebentritt


Julia Soto Lebentritt, M.F.A., is a freelance writer and producer. Her articles and
audio-visual works showcase the oral histories of people in Vermont, Alaska, and
New York. Her writing awards include fellowships from the states of Connecticutt
and New York. She is a published poet and author of The Kooken (Henry Holt
and Company, 1992).

Armando Soto is a visual artist who has work permanently displayed in Lower
Manhattan and who is currently developing the Oral History Mural Project in Adult
Literacy Programs, N.Y.C.