Around every corner, a ghost

In this town.

Familiar, creeping, knowing

Invading the unknowing mind with memory and being.

It grabs hold, forcing surrender.

Impossible to see a corner

And not see the apparition lurking in it.

There: that afternoon, the bright sun, the patio, laughter and then…

Here: a woman scuffles forward on the sidewalk, pulling her belongings in a broken-down cart; you know that woman

And there again: a new mom pushes her child in a stroller toward the daycare doors…a child now grown and moved far off. Your child.

Every sight is the site of a remembrance

Sparking some forgotten neural pathway.

You cannot flee.

Everywhere

In this town of shadows

With its grey-black bricks,

Awnings flapping under hot air.

Its smoke stacks.

Laundry lines,

Yellow buses.

Everywhere

In this town.

Here, the dry cleaner

Here, the cafe

The mechanic

The library - it is just opening for the day!

It is a town to grow up in

And eventually fold into

To become

Like the earth around it: soil. A phantom

In someone else’s

Periphery.