Bad Blood

the hole in the street is a gaping wound it’s been here for two months now the walls in the house groan and ache as the front yard hides in shadows the night is an ocean set in front of me while sitting at my laptop i hear a pattering sound i open the door and look outside to see there’s no rain but restless crickets sing a street light flickers dead stars the tractor factory down the hill has been closed almost forty years a casino opened to pick up the slack but nothing’s the same i can feel this town is dying every day yesterday i washed dishes at a diner three hours for free a trial run and didn’t get it as a second job the manager says there are many others on trial a light bleeds through a crack under a door in the other room the roommate who wants me to move stirs