Shutter Speed

The city, mostly empty, a church during prayer time,
gets into a fight with a stray dog.

In my neighbourhood, two little girls deliver firearms;
tangled ribbons caught between the traffic wheels.

Holding a poetry book, a beggar
listens to the tower-block bells.

Without passengers, the last bus to Ithaca
leaves the abandoned depot.

One stone talks to another.

Maria Stadnicka
Illustration nick victor