It's the Little Things

Strudlhofstiege
Strudlhof Steps
9th District

I have noticed small stencils
on walls all over town.
Some of them are quite beautiful,
others bear political slogans
or messages.

This graceful figure greets you as you
walk up the Strudlhof steps,
like a harbinger
of a more generous artistic spirit.
It made me smile.

Leaf
Strudlhof Steps

When the leaves upon the steps are lying
from the old stairs is heard an autumn sighing
of all that's gone across them in the past ...

Marble Table
Café Central
Palais Ferstel
Herrengasse 14

Saturday afternoon vignette:

Red Austrian "Zweigelt" wine,
Vöslauer mineral water,
good company
around a round marble table.

The Streetcar Named Serendipity
Café Roth
Outdoor terrace
Roosevelt Square

A Viennese moment:

Viennese streetcar
passing Café Roth
with its streetcar-red chairs.
"Click!"
says the camera.
The Viennese palmtrees
smile,
and wave gently
in the evening breeze.

Viennese blackboards:
Poetry in Chalk

"Frische Maroni-Herzen"
Hanauer
Wiener Schokolade
handgetunkt.

Fresh Chestnut Hearts
Hanauer
hand dipped
Viennese chocolate

It must be that time of the year again:
Autumn in Vienna
Maroniherzen
Ripe on the tree.

Old Buttons
Servitengasse
9th District

Five cents each.
Your imagination: free.
Endless possibilities.
What if Christo
wrapped a few buttons
and dropped them,
like Hansel and Gretel
their crumbs of bread,
in Central Park?
Imagine Jeff Koons
floating a giant magenta button
over the White House!
Five cents each.
How many million dollars
after Gerhard Richter
takes a photograph of one
of these buttons,
transfers it to canvas,
paints it with a light touch
of his brush,
giving it a final
loving squeegee touch?
Five cents multiplied by how much?
Beyond my imagination.

Photographed in the afternoon
of Friday,
October 12, 2007