Macabre marionettes reel
The dance of the departed,
Adorning the tower or
Prostrating at its base,
A message left at the
Epicenter of this vivid city.
Four roads seem to stretch forever
Out from this dust shrouded circle;
Short mismatched buildings line the
Intersecting avenues, crooked balconies
Smiling down at children who
Share streets with hens and strays.
It all revolves around a single point:
The emerald clock tower in circle’s center.
This scene reminds me of Basseterre,
That vibrant Caribbean city,
Bustling tropical metropolis
Where one time I tried goat water.
In Basseterre at Carnivale they
String lights from the tower’s top.
They snake out above rough pavement:
Parallel celestial avenues.
But here, no lights are strung.
1 The small capital of Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan
Colin D. Halloran is a former infantryman, cheerleading coach, bartender, lobbying intern, and public school teacher. He has lived on three continents, and though he currently resides in Hartford, CT, he has yet to define home beyond a state of mind. He has had poetry appear in The New York Times and Long River Run, and articles appear throughout the World Wide Web. He is in the process of completing an MFA at Fairfield University where he is the senior poetry editor for the literary journal Mason’s Road. When not wandering and writing, Colin serves as a teaching artist, working with high school students and teachers on incorporating literature into the history classroom.