Duncan Robert Anderson: The House Across the River
@ The Dime
1513 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
Opening Friday, December 1st, at 6PM
On view through Wednesday, January 10th
In a January of utter desolation, on walks with our Smokey-pup, beloved beyond expression, in the middle of the night, during the last weeks of his life, in the silence and cold, knowing our time was growing short, I would get down on my knees beside him, stroking his fur to reassure him, cradling his face in my hands, and looking in his eyes, I would quietly confide, ‘Buddy, I need you to listen to me. This is very important. You wait for us. We’ll come find you. You wait for us on the other side of the river. Just wait for your Mother and I.’
Each passing night another small, neighborhood constellation would wink out, as, house by house, Christmas lights were dismantled and taken down, an ominous marker of our own hellish, implacable, countdown.
And each night he and I would stop, and I would kneel on the frozen ground and remind him, fighting past tears and dread, ‘We will find you. I promise. We will come find you, just wait for us across the river.’
The Jordan, the Styx, the Nolichucky winding through the ancient mountains of home, whatever tradition you wish to invoke, The House Across the River, in the darkest nights we’d ever known, seemed somehow familiar, like the echo of a hymn my Mother might have sung softly to herself to greet the morning sun.
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Tags: Chicago, Duncan Robert Anderson, Duncan Robert Anderson: The House Across the River, The Dime, The Dime/Tony Fitzpatrick Projects, The House Across the River, West Town
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