Good Bye Small Town

Reflecting on reflections

Sunlight splays across the ceiling as I enjoy

The view of it rolling through my collection

Of multicolored liquor bottles

 

A haze of yesterdays smoke hangs in the living room

Just above my head occasionally catching the hues

Stretching them out in a disorienting way

Or maybe it’s just the leftover alcohol

Fogging up my thoughts again

 

The mismatched furniture

Seems to accent the yellowed paint

Coating the walls

Seems to highlight

The signatures and obscenities

Scrawled in sharpie in between

The posters and drawings

 

My sanctuary

Likes to remind me occasionally

That it can’t always live up to its name

 

Fragmented memories of the evening before

And the evenings lined up behind that one

Surface like refuse in a murky pond

Unwelcome faces filling my space

Familiar faces warping as the words we say

Seem to shift tones

For no apparent reason

With no provocation

 

Chain smoking cigarettes

Toasting to honesty just before a fistfight

Cheap shots and insults posing as jokes

In an endless game of one-upmanship

 

My time here in the sanctuary

Seemed like it would never end

But the term seemed less applicable

The longer I stayed

 

What used to provide comfort

Slowly became a steady reminder

Of what was endured in the space

 

And as I lay here

Just about to consume another intoxicant

Before I pack it all away

Before I swallow this bitter pill and my alcohol beside it

I have to wonder

 

Was there a point to the time spent here?

Was there something I was supposed to take away from

The passage of life in between these walls

And will I realize it if I did?

 

But the thought doesn’t linger

As the speed kicks in

And all I can do is pack.

 

Good bye small town.

04/19/2013

0727 am

Author's Note

It seems like leaving a residence spurs odd thoughts to the forefront of my brain. Its weird to reflect on all of the events experienced in a space only to realize that the occurrence will never happen again. Good bad inbetween all associated with somplace new.

Reviews

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Excellent work! I think you brought the character of the small town to life with several details and created the atmosphere that existed there with your words. Reading this poem was like a trip to the town and then leaving it for good.