Night Windows 1928 & Silbers Pharmacy

Night Windows 1928

after Edward Hopper

could as easily be titled Rear Window. One
of Hopper’s favorite films. The painting

shows a woman in the middle bay window
of a second story building. Wearing a rosy slip,
she is bending over something unseen.

Her backside is all that’s visible, all
we see of her standing on a green rug
across from a bed. A radiator’s against

the far wall and a red chest. Is she
searching one of the drawers? We don’t know
and don’t care. It’s her body that centers

the painting, that those who look
from the outside into brightly lit places want
to see, those drawn to a woman

alone in a drab room that only Hopper
and the viewer would enter.

after Edward Hopper’s Drug Store, 1927

The lettering over the corner store
in bold script, gold on black, above

a brightly lit window with another sign,
white on black, Prescriptions Drugs. And

below that, EX – LAX. Edward having his fun.
Still the shop’s showcase is dressed in blue

draperies and hanging lamps of green and red,
glowing over jars and gift sets wrapped

in matching colors. Such lovely items under
the threat of ruinous bodily functions. Except

there are no bodies. No shoppers, no one
passing by, the area dark but for this corner

where soft store lights illuminate the sidewalk
and street. A perfect place for Hopper to window

shop, then move on, never to enter, never
to seek out Silber or his ghostly, gassy patrons.