Anna Couani #215 tiny workshop

the tiny etching print of Kevin Little’s workshop

is something I can stare at endlessly

reminiscing about my great grandfather’s stained glass workshop

grimy and black

when all of Dixon Street was blackened

before everything was cleaned up

the lead dust all over the tables

as we ate our sandwiches

probably sweeter with leaded fingers

the stacks of ruby glass and amber

purple glass for the robes

the fiery kilns with flames that leapt into the room

and out of this grime

came the glowing jewel-like windows

lying buried in churches and chapels we never visited