The Nelligan Review

​

There was a door set into the wall

dark yellow against red brick

 

and the wall was adjacent

to the narrow sidewalk

 

which abutted the narrow street

everything constrained

 

the town so small in so many ways

its people seemingly happy

 

within their limitations

and beyond the fixed limits

 

of existing urban development

the river fed the widely spreading marshes

 

most houses had mice

chewing through their foundations

 

at night the streetlamps glowed orange

and the drunks of the town laughed

 

and cried themselves home

through the treeless streets

 

wishing they had someone to lay with

both of them naked behind

 

the unlocked yellow door

but instead they drank

 

until they could barely walk

wishing for the courage to make

 

a final trip out through the marshland

where they could strip off their clothing

 

and stretch out on the muddy ground

dreaming of birds and mice

 

and the limits of civilization.

 

​