Selected Prose

“Hal Sirowitz blurts unspeakable truths. Horrifying, funny and nothing you want your mother to catch you reading…” —A.M. Homes

Although Hal is best known for his poetry, he has also published prose in numerous magazines, books, and newspapers. Below is a selection; please click on the links to read the work.

Mr Beller’s Neighborhood

Read Hal’s writing on Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood website of New York City stories here.

The New York Times

“Cold Comfort,” July 19, 2006
“I will not buy an air-conditioner. I don’t care if it’s nearly 100 degrees outside and feels like 400, as it has the last few days. I heard that if you start to use an air-conditioner you’ll become dependent on it for the rest of your life, as you do with eyeglasses.”

The New York Times Magazine

“Let Us Count the Ways,” November 11, 2001
“If one so much as touched the fence, a woman at the historical house next door would run out and order that person to leave.”

The Chicago Tribune

“Change is Constant in Ann Beattie’s My Life,” May 25, 1997

“When you open a Russian doll, a smaller one is inside. And inside the smaller one is still another one. And so it goes. Ann Beattie’s new novel, “My Life, Starring Dara Falcon,” is like that. There are stories within stories…”

Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability

Cinco Puntos Press, 2011

“Zombies are Loose,” 2011 (part of anthology)
“It shouldn’t be discouraging being diagnosed with Parkinson’s. It’s like a chance to be an extra in a John Carpenter movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Your body is literally snatched away from you.”

Tin House 

Volume I, No. 2, Fall 1999

“Two Memories” (PDF)
“She was afraid the fly was living inside her. She asked me if I could hear it buzzing, but I heard nothing.”

Broken Land: Poems of Brooklyn 

New York University Press, 2007

Foreword to the book (PDF)
“As soon as a frankfurter is eaten away from the beach, it doesn’t taste the same. It becomes flavorless, like other brands. This anthology doesn’t have that problem.”