And the street held silence for two strangers who didn’t have to stay that way.
We stood silent below lamplight in the magnetic time.
Your suburban home stood parched in the dark and didn’t know me well.
Your mother stood at the northern window and pretended to be passing by.
The ten o’clock fireworks stood above the hotels and were heard in a tired sky.
Your roof stood parallel to that forgiving horizon.
Your car stood locking and unlocking as we collided.
We stood silent across from fire station number three then went around your block again.
And in that silence we don’t celebrate the ending we just end up walking other ways.
Source: The author, 2021
Russell Street was first published in The Continuist, May 10, 2020
Cole McInerney is a student studying English at Ryerson University. He lives in Toronto. He was born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario. His poems have been published in several print and online publications, including Dots Publications, The Continuist, and Lippy Kids.
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See Cole McInerney’s other poems on the Niagara Falls Poetry Project website: