ghosts

There are so many. Once last winter, three ghosts showed up in the same room with me and it was too much. I remember waking up with all of them, but have no memory of laying down with any of them at all. Anyway, one of them just died. One of my ghosts. I'll dedicate a poem here for him:

Ruch (for Richard)

It's a church now
the whole thing
the whole town
even the bar
where we used to sleep on pool tables with strangers

a church.

The outside wall is still different
where Richard Bohannon tried to drive his truck through it
before he lost his license
and his mind
The wood is newer in that one spot
and you can tell if you know what to look for
but I don't think they do
the Christians

They serve coffee
and I suppose it's strong enough
in its own way
but we were stronger
it took alot of faith to be us
And every night was New Year's Eve
every morning cluttered with sacred resolutions
broken by noon

And we were all saved
by a grace I am only beginning to understand
and God was always there
in Ruch.