BEFORE, IN NOWHERE FOR NO ONE
Before they built the mega box-store complex near the Portland airport, they first built two light rail stops, where the trains would stop in the empty fields, for years, before progress eventually brought Ikea, et al to the Portland metro.
Before
they were but two train stops at an empty
field for no reason
They were in nowhere for no one
before the airport after the
highways and houses
They were in the In-Between
a place not yet paved over not
yet become either a Here or
a There
A nowhere bordered by gravel mounds
and marshy reeds that profit
no man or woman
And no man nor woman never said a
word as the doors opened and
shut at these two platforms in
nowhere for no one
Nor saw the brief portal open to the
infinity that lies in the In-Between
Nor I
shackled to my calendar
and to all the things I keep
until one day on the way to
There from Here
I became ill at the first train stop in
nowhere for no one and by the
second train stop in nowhere
for no one the nausea became
greater than my calendar
And so with all the things for There
I stepped through the portal that
no one not ever crosses into
nowhere for no one that only
children can see
The heavy things carried for There
dropped weightily at the platform's
edge so that first the feet and then
the hands and knees sunk lightly
but deeply into the anaerobic mud
that profits no one not yet
The bile and vomit burned and twisted
hissed and steamed upward
against the cold rain a perfect tribute
to this confluence and byproduct of
progress and field mice in the
In-Between
Until this rain-soaked man in dark
hoodie returned himself and his
things back to the calendar onto
the next train back through the
portal that no one not ever crosses
as no one said a thing
by Eric Fair-Layman © 2021
About the Wordsmith:
Eric Fair-Layman (stage name, Papasquatch) is a living poet and spoken-word performer based in Portland, Oregon. His self-published chapbook, A Prequel to Cathartic Musings & DIY Revenge Poetry, is available for purchase. His work has appeared in Tom Hiron's poetry journal Clarion and on his mother's fridge, where only the best (& only Eric's) poems get placed. Eric is active at open mics (& co-hosts the Humble Poets Open Mic), offers the occasional revenge and cathartic writing workshop, tells myths, facilitates men's work, parents two (grateful) teenagers, and has a kick-ass girlfriend. He was a featured speaker at the April 5 Hands Off protest in Vancouver, Washington and is available for events. Catch him on instagram @papa_squatch2229.
