Two Poems by Salvatore Marici

Hope everyone is having a a great weekend.  Today we have two poems from Salvatore Marici of Port Byron, IL:



Continuous River Towns



Boats no longer stop
in the towns without stoplights
along the Great River Route
in the upper Mississippi River Valley.
Planners seek investors
who will renovate and erect
strive for a quaint ambience
to inject into the passersby
hope they become
money-spending tourists
or tax-paying residents
and to convince
the inhabitants to stay.


 
 
 
Port Byron IL and the Dead



White paint peels
on a wooden three story house
with a wrap around porch. In the corner
of the basement a negro man sits in dirt.
He waits for the station manager
to tell him tonight he hides under canvas in a wagon
while a conductor drives16 miles to the next depot,
one trip closer to the US / Canadian border.
Outside of the dwelling
on the stagecoach route
he hears the revs of combustion engines.


A quarter mile away on North Main Street
one-hundred plus years of
ice expansions, melted water contractions,
cracked mud and muck
pried stone foundations and brick-masonry.


Crews finalize the deterioration
and construct a strip mall.
Each unit has a front and back window wall
bicyclists look through see
recreational boats speed
and tugs push barges transporting coal or grain.


At suite 201,
customers open and close the door
of the pub and eatery, It’s on the River.
However, the electric car dealership
who parked their one car outside
and an investment company vacated.
In most cells wires dangle,
floors do not have cement
and ghost squatters coexist
with the passersby
and the commuting inhabitants.

 
 
BIO: Salvatore Marici poems have appeared in several magazines including Zygote in My Coffee, Slow Trains, Buffalo Carp, Oyster and Chocolate, and Off Channel. He placed in various poetry contests and has work forthcoming in the anthology More Sweet Lemons. He lives on the edge of urban sprawl in Rock Island County with his three cats, Moe, Curly, and Ruby Tuesday.