← v18n1, Spring 2019
Poetry · Volume 18, Number 1

Old Haunts

You left a token for him every place you’d lived,

he’d lived, a card tipped

against a flight of steps, or in a tree’s embrace,

or laid nakedly on leaves.

You wrote no name, no address,

and in the message area of each

a phrase from a poem

with a meaning that was secret.

It was a time of day when no one

was coming home from work or going to work

and every place you’d lived,

he’d lived, was within reach.

It was a sunny day for lightweight coats in fall

and silhouettes and shadows

where you’d both walked,

a sunny mild open day for ghosts.