THIS PART OF TOWN

[Poemme]

 

 

This part of town

the cold damp rooms

where the migrants live

mother father kids

thin curtain keeping out the cold.

 

Late at night

the snow came down

the staggering drunk

didn’t even see me

I thought he was a ghost

something terrible in the night

something inside me

coming out of the alley.

 

It’s the cold

that strips you to the bone

and your footsteps on the road

that really scare you.

 

I don’t know where the drunk was headed

down the slippery hill

to four spirit corner

like the methos that bailed me up

for the price of a bus to the hospital.

 

I saw them in the library

sitting in the sun

coming through the windows

then outside

out of the wind

layers of stinking clothes

keeping them warm.

 

You can live a life like that

hour to hour

day to day

until you come staggering

out of a dark alley

in the cold dead of night.

[badger11]

On 5/21/2024 at 5:00 AM, Poemme said:

 

 

Late at night

the snow comes down

the staggering drunk

doesn't even see me

maybe he is a ghost

something terrible in the night

something inside me

coming out of the alley.

 

It’s the cold

that strips you to the bone

and your footsteps on the road

that really scare you.

 

I don’t know where the drunk is headed

down the slippery hill

to four spirit corner

like the methos that bails me up

for the price of a bus to the hospital.

 

I see them in the library

sitting in the sun

coming through the windows

then outside

out of the wind

layers of stinking clothes

pretending warmth.

 

You can live a life like that

hour to hour

day to day

until you come staggering

out of a dark alley

in the cold dead of night.

Just some suggestions P., for immediacy.

I particularly liked the inside/outside nature of the ghost.

[James Albert Barr]

You've definitely captured the sense of desolation and dispossession of hopeless inebriation, being poor and having little to nothing in a literally cold and uncaring world.

[Poemme]

Thanks for reading and commenting. There are some bleak places out there.

[Poemme]

On 5/24/2024 at 3:27 PM, badger11 said:

Just some suggestions P., for immediacy.

I particularly liked the inside/outside nature of the ghost.

I just reread your comment. It’s an odd thing, but I don’t experience “came down” as the past, even though I know it’s grammatically correct. I’d be interested to know what others think .