3 Poems by Michael Dennis
the sound you hear
the sound you hear
is of a far-off train
it is coming into town at a slow pace
you’ve heard the whistle a couple of times
you live beside the tracks
in the centre of town
and it is early in the morning
your favourite time of the day
you are usually out of the house
before anyone is awake
you like to walk
through empty streets
see the first signs of life
a light going on in a kitchen
someone opening a door
to fetch a newspaper
how quiet everyone seems
how polite
the train is edging closer
it is carrying televisions
or watermelons
or place mats
it crawls past you
and on into its train day
as the first automobiles pass by
and the streetlights
go out
closer to death
I don’t remember
going to bed last night
or taking off my clothes
or turning out the lights
or falling asleep
but all of them happened
and then I woke up
hungover
and closer to death
than I was
yesterday
praise
like most
people
I love it
when
it’s directed
at me
the rest
of the time
it sounds
suspiciously
like
something false
Michael Dennis has 13 books of poetry in and out of print, including Fade to Blue (Pulp Press), This Day Full of Promise: Poems Selected and New (Broken Jaw), and wayne gretzky in the house of the sleeping beauties (Lowlife Publishing). He makes his home in Ottawa.
