All the Telephone Poles are on This Side of the Street (Except that one)

Julian Jason Haladyn

     

It was a typical hallucinogenic evening in Georgetown
somewhere between one-thirty and five am
the graveyard was not yet full
there was clearly room for all of us to enter

still the early morning air was palpable
sounds came and went in an erratic tide
a stray car wandering the streets alone
or maybe the odd animal noise off in the distance

all four of us had been killed by a passing train only one block over
well almost killed I should say
so many details of the evening have been lost or distorted
but I am pretty sure that we did manage to survive

we had been playing on the tracks for almost a half hour
by the middle platform where the commuters stand
the topic of choice was philosophy
although no one was really saying much

after the train incident we went straight to the graveyard
it seemed the logical thing to do
shoelace untied and the occasional rest
we managed to get there eventually

again our conversations were generally philosophical
consisting of observations and extrapolations
one such exchange from two members of our group
focused on the placement of the streetlights on this road

all the telephone poles are on this side of the street
except that one

however true the statement was
and it did happen to be a fact that only one was on the other side
the observation still seemed to lack focus
but maybe that was because we were all dead