Author Archives: dsamarov

I’m sitting on a bus bench across from the Rainbo trying to get a little reading done before my shift at 8pm but it’s not happening. First a homeless man slowly crosses to my side of the street and idles just outside my peripheral vision talking to the trashcan to the left of my bench.Continue reading “ice cream truck outside the bar”

Every Monday at the Unique on Halsted is half-price day. It’s kind of a zoo with aggressive bargain hunters but I brave it every few weeks. It helps that all I ever look for is frames and canvases. Thrift-store shoppers are a taciturn bunch for the most part. Many act like sleepwalkers barely aware ofContinue reading “Unique Thrift”

I picked up Bonnie Jo Campbell’s short-story collection, American Salvage, at Myopic and got sucked right in. I’d heard her name a long time but didn’t have too much of a frame of reference. I knew she was related to the ex-girlfriend of a friend. But that’s not a reason to read a book. SheContinue reading “The Yard Man”