Colin Russell


Downtown


kitten paw
constant comfort

learning of death
all your life

wait for buses
down broad

till one is mine
piss wherever

keep the moment
close to you

winter arrived
in the empty street

last december
snow was driving

times hands
through life


Breakage 


cow bray
baby pink 

clouds 
tall anvils 

the sound of birds 
the sounds of drivers 

the crowd mills 
playing tunelessly 

different types 
of time off 

the hour beats 
hard and all over 

fetches mail
in july 

a list of things 
i don’t remember 

fallen wires 
down poorhouse road 

the bridge at dawn 
the sun fades in

the back door 
the slats are messed up 

a glass factory 
on the Monongahela 

great backyards 
of deceased men 

a list of names 
by county 

ending with 
the state at large

memory narrows 
down the lane 

another transient 
unit 

only handling 
the wheel

what is eating 
my rose 

no chance at 
expired valium 

it’s not 
moving today 

how when you 
break a twenty 

the rest goes 
so quickly 

things turn out 
the way they did

before a glass breaks
it bends

glitter smacked 
pavement 

signets on 
fucked bricks 

road shoulder 
wildflowers 

pulled along 
hairpin turn

didn’t want 
to be strong 

said she wanted 
to be normal 

speakers blown 
once again  

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Colin was born and raised in West Virginia. Currently, he lives in rural Virginia in the backyard of the Shenandoah Valley.