Clinton St. Quarterly—Fall/Winter 1988 45 “Here is one who writes witty rhymes, and there is another who weeps incessantly. There are others who £ begin their aimless verses, their rhythmless, rhymeless verses with small letters. Some posture, and some flout God and ask if they are not brave fellows, indeed. But true poets are few. Hazel Hall was a poet.” The street fills slowly with the thin Night light, end fluid shadows pass Over the roofs as dark pours in Like dusky wine into a glass. Out of the gloom I watch them come— Linked by an invisible chain, Reconciled to the yoke and dumb After the heat of pride or pain. Nothing of the concerns of noon Remains for them, or serves for me, But portent, like the unrisen moon. Begins to weigh unbearably. Hall occupied a bedroom on the second floor, the northwest corner of the house, which looked down on the street. She spent most of her years there—and would hold a hand mirror up to the window to peer out, when sounds caught her attention. There has been some question about whether she ever left jM W k . her upstairs bedroom. I F a z e l H a l1 w a s b o r n in P a u ' ’ - j l Minnesota, on Feb.7,1886. She w V- was of Welsh and Irish descent. Montgomery George Hall, her father, was employed by James J. Hill, the railroad magnate. Hill sent Hall to Portland to oversee the Northern Express Agency, where he founded the Commercial Club. At his tragic death in the summer of 1916, the family fortunes plummeted. May Garland, the widow, moved with her daughters into the house at 52 Lucretia Place, in 1917. This fact and other scattered information is contained in A Tribute to Hazel Ha//by Viola Price Franklin. This i n t r i 9u i n 9 appreciation is the only source ^ ^ b o o k on her life, until letters and other CW%nemorabilia are found. jO p e r ta in lv Ruth Hall, Hazel’s caring and book-loving sister, would have placed her papers somewhere. Where? No North- west collection I’ve explored holds , anything, i ^ ^ K i f i s i t i n g the house, located at 106 NW r 22nd Place, across from the Lucretia K Court Apts., I obtained some sec- t ondhand information. Apparently Ruth X passed away in 1973—almost 50 years * after Hazel. The 2-story, blue-gray home S with basement, porch, and attic has been A remodeled into a duplex, but a sense of n B the place as it was remains. Beveled and M stained-glass windows, wood paneling n and molding, and gas-light fixtures. Brad KIW Mossman, a current tenant, lives in 104 ■ T where there was once a loveseat and win- j dows. This nook was the observation spot for many of Hazel’s poems in the BE well-received collection, Walkers (1923). In February of 1922 Hall was awarded S second prize in the national Laura Black- burn lyric poetry contest, under the direc- K tion of The Order of the Bookfellows. PR With it came a much-needed forty dollars in cash. Both the Portland Telegram and the Oregonian made mention of the honor. The poem “Walkers at Dusk” is a B n typical one. - J w
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