Part 16 (A)

Broken inside out
The man in black
Waited outside central library

Hands lined deep
Inside his pockets
Until he nearly gave up
And went home

Smoking cigarettes
Repeatingly in a broken loop
Until another man
Turned up
His face lined
Like a rowboat

Coughing frantically
Knowing that their meeting
Would affect
More than
Just a few lives.

 

Part 16 (B)

Lateness spilled
Across his broken words
Running down
Oxford Road

Dodging the traffic
Across the roadworks
That blocked his way
Constantly at every corner

And then across
The peace garden
Narrowly missing
Getting run down
By the tram
At least twice

Until his friend
Whose name he didn’t
Even know
Was about to go

And looked at him
Like he was going to kill him
When he said it had started
Earlier than expected

In the middle of the village.

(Ghost Story III operating under the rules of Napwrimo
can be read at http://ghoststoryiii.blogspot.co.uk/
- Guest writers are openly encouraged to send in their
pieces within the story or their own ghost story poems)