page 154

Nelligan's Railway Hotel

He hasn't seen the outside of the bar
for so long he can't remember what it
looks like or what it is to watch the far
away hills. The window's cruciform sits

only against the black night, the wind shills
across the iron roof, it's nowhere near
Aeolian but his drinking mate's still
deaf to it. The juke's chatter fills his ears.

The third? Well, as you'd guess he's mute, a few
more beers will pass his lips but don't expect
a word of sense. Profundity? He's too
smart for that. The dark backroad slithers wet

along the gut and out past Taiko hall.
These three wise apes consider playing pool.