Cole McInerney
Summer 2024 | Poetry
Port Colborne
You wore a mulberry-black chore coat
to witness a group gathering at the lock
to see the boat, as if it were a reenactment
of that week’s funeral The lift bridge
goes up and seems to just stay there
Stepping into the legion further down
the canal with the veterans, drinking
the whole interior long enough
to be a pool, that way it felt
like more than just sitting around
There was hockey on every television
behind the bar, and I noticed
how the ice on the screen
kept the rest of the place
from going dark
On the commercial breaks
it felt like being in the centre
of the barn as the sky would
leave it behind You were there
across from me in defeat
Was it the loss or the loss within loss
Either way it looked like grief
Was it dust or stardust
Shining next to you on the seat
Cole McInerney is a poet from Niagara Falls, Ontario. Currently, he is an MFA student at the University of South Carolina. His poems have appeared in White Wall Review, The Bookends Review, Echolocation Magazine, and The Lakeshore Review.