My memories haven’t faded, they’ve been
flash-frozen, freeze-dried. Honeysuckle, yes,
and rhododendron with roots like ruddy fingers.
Perpetual state of Edenic squalor,
which means that hereabouts you can still
get a gang up, mean no one any real harm,
and stand a chance of getting free. The whole place
is a hideout, green-black hole in the wall.
There’s even a town called Hell, which is where
I am in my mind, sending you this postcard
before they shut the office down for good.
I’ve sidled down the narrow street. It’s late,
and I’ve done nothing but write this.
Perpetual
state, state of my birth, state of my father still,
who lives somewhere close, though far from me.
I’m sure of one thing: whatever new drug sweeps
next our young and poor will find a home here.
Dropping it in the slot, I
see the return address
is already smeared.
Photo by Niklas Morberg