Poster Image

A girl pays for candy at a store counter with her parents waiting nearby

$20

Item#: 2014SYR13

Purchase Details

11x17-inches, printed on heavy weight (100-pound) Hammermill cover paper. We package each print with a piece of chipboard in a clear plastic sleeve.

You also receive…

An information page with photos of the artist and poet, and hand-written comments from each.

Medium- and large-format posters are available by custom order. Contact us for details.

Poem Inspiration Location

Little Corner Store

poster information

Description

Little corner store
of penny—candy—kids and
mom and pop patience.

I grew up on the North Side, on Malverne Drive. My husband and I bought the family house and still live here. When I was little, we were just down the hill from a little corner store, a Silver Star, on Hillside and Huntley streets. The woman, Mrs. Coleman, had white hair, and Mr. Coleman was tall, straight-backed, and I think he spoke with an accent. At the entrance to the store was a large glass enclosed case of penny candy! No matter how busy they were with people who spent money on real groceries, Mrs. Coleman always took the time to stand and listen to the kids say, “I want that one. Oh, no, no, I want that. No, I'll take this one.” She had the patience of Job, just wonderful! Even when I was older and stopped there on errands for my mom, she used to smile and say, “Don't you want something from the candy counter?”

The poem reminds me of one of my favorite places in a small town in Indiana. As kids, my cousins and I would go there every summer, and buy as much candy as I could afford. It was this little corner shop with a bar top for milkshakes and aisles of candy as cheap as a penny. I love candy.

I designed the image from what I remembered as a kid, but also with a particular structure in mind. I enjoy playing with different planes in the picture and geometric shapes in a composition, so I had fun juxtaposing the solid shape of the bar with the checkered tiles on the floor.