How a city Gets Lost
Mary Winters
At first no one notices.
The latest census shows
some minor population
shifts
they’re called. Just
different ethnicities and
age groups moving around.
Then one or two blocks
just here and there get
boarded up in their entirety --
“major renovation.”
Next the zoo animals die off
and are never replaced. One
morning you notice not dirt but dust
on the cars parked on your block.
The bus no longer stops on
your corner. Grocery stores
leave town; your son comes to
you quiet one morning and says
Mommy every night I have a
funny dream about a suitcase.
A suitcase under my bed.
