Ghost Towns

I find some towns
harder to abandon

than others, but
it’s not the way

you think. If
it’s glittering

and alive, if
the streets are full

of drunken singers
and lovers, if

it has an opera,
I know I won’t

be missed. Now,
take a place,

not much of a place
to begin with,

and board it up,
break up the sidewalks,

put the last people
on the last train, and

that town will never be
rid of me.

You’ll still find me there
long after sundown,

after all the gold
is gone.

–April 18, 2019