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Furtherance

by Timothy Gager



A boy waits on a curb
at 2:30 PM
for a ghost ship
to bring his father home

He grows up
roams in a meadow
tramps down tall grass
tireless, never sits
there's always more
fog to be found in the underbrush

Inside a bus station, leaves wait
for a bus that never arrives
never departs
they blow in circles with wrappers
past trash cans that overflow
and white lollipop sticks cemented
to concrete

Ever have
a lover, a saint, a devil
rolled into one on a mattress,
hands on each other's hearts and throats
as the top of an hourglass sifts and fills the bottom

Seconds count as
ice melts and water rolls
in currents so strong
they can't help but make their destination;
too strong for you to move against
for you to swim at all.


Timothy Gager is the author of Short Street and Twenty-Six Pack, both collections of short fiction, and the e-book, The Damned Middle. His first book of poetry, The same corner of the Bar, is available through Ibbetson Street Press and his most recent, We Needed A Night Out, was released in 2006. He hosts the Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, Massachusetts every month and is the co-founder of Somerville News Writers Festival.