1. The crumbling factory where Wanda lost
her job setting pockets
on coats in 1999. She was one
of the last 55.

2. They boarded up Apex Bank
& moved it to a doublewide
on Broad, a four-lane & the only
street where cars still meander.

3. Evelyn sold her possessions
up North in Ohio. Bought a brick
ranch for $45,000. Cheap
place to retire but closest
grocery is on Star Route 44,
next to the Dollar General, 12
miles away.

4. Roofs of downtown stores caved in
down to the basements. Watch
for occassional rat.

5. In the distance, the steel bones
of a railyard —  green gray, reinforced
concrete. Old cars rusted
& empty.

6. Daylight through cracked
windows, fractals
of the lost
era of factories.

7. Be wary of copperheads
in the scruff between collapsing
walls & train tracks, still used. 

8. Evelyn sells oils
& watercolors for $20
at the Senior Center.  Her oversized
iris looks like a gigantic giraffe
tongue. Old ladies
here still chatter, their blue
tongues wagging.

9. Don’t forget the wooden
door of the former
pool hall where men once joked
& cajoled. Most men
die first around here.