​Looking around this downtown street,
sipping a coffee, watching the people go by.
The hustle and bustle will never change
where other things down here have
blending with the scenery that stays the same.
 
At the end of the street, the construction is constant.
Same place every year for the past seven years.
It is always street work by the same crew.
At least they know where they are working.
Would not want to be them in this heat,
the boots and work clothes adding to their tired
but nothing seems to stop them
or the constant hum of drilling into the ground.
They have been here so long
I am not sure if they even know
what they are fixing anymore.
 
Lighting a cigarette, I cannot help
but look for a store that is no longer there,
Now it is an apartment building
with businesses on the main floor.
Years ago it was not that.
It was three, old brick buildings.
A cafe of eastern cuisine,
a travel agency to faraway places
and a beloved general store
that when we were kids, they sold cheap
penny candies, quarter cigarettes
before the laws changed about buying at a certain age.
Cannot help but wonder if our stealing
when their eyes were closed helped get it tore down.
 
Grinning I look over to the mass bus depot
that has not changed as long as I remember.
It still has a spooky, dirty feel to it.
The same aura that was there when I was a kid.
Looking back and forth I see some of
the same people that have been taking
the noisy vehicles for years.
It is a comfort to them and that does not change.
 
The coffee is finished and it is time to leave
a cafe that I will not see again.
It closes this weekend with little fanfare.
A reminder that though something's stay the same
in time places constantly change
on this busy downtown street.
 
August 24, 2018
© Andrew Scott - Just A Maritime Boy 2018

​This quiet little town
has become the center of upheaval
and confusion as of late.
It was so quiet when I got here.
People were so neighbourly,
waving to you as a complete stranger.
Now everyone has suspicious eyes
as you hear the click of a door lock.
 
It started a few months back
during the winter thaw
when Adam was found,
frozen in the wooden border
so close to his home,
His eyes were frozen open they say.
The bruised marks on his neck
told the rest of the story.
Found by a beaten path
to the neighbour’s home.
The path used  for visits
no one was to know about
including the husband
or Adam’s wife.
 
The community was at a loss
when Stephen was found on his porch,
throat open with just one strike.
The discovery was grotesque, so much blood
splashed all over his leisurely swing.
While people took in the horror
of one of their own meeting a violent end
not many saw the youth of today
walking up Stephen’s outside steps
to buy the day’s coloured pills.
 
Finding Esther off the wooden path
sent waves of fright through the town.
Not even the walking trails in the open
were safe for the citizens
as find Esther has proven.
Never spoken of are the lined pockets
of money that were with the body.
Bills from places of business
that were struggling to keep the lights on.
 
How do I know all of this you ask?
I may have been the dark figure
walking unnoticed in the shadow of the night,
making visits in the Murder Town.
 
August 8, 2018
© Andrew Scott – Just A Maritime Boy 2018