Where Joe Was
Where Joe was
he isn't anymore.
Oh, he's around
on land somewhere.
I see him in his truck.
Sometimes he visits
where he used to get aboard.
I wonder how that empty space
affects him. Once I bought
lobsters from him just inside
there at a battered table
where in a water-stained old journal
he wrote down his sales.
I see his boat still there
more vividly than ever.
Some absences beat presence
where the heart is concerned.
A fishing village without fishermen
where hundreds once thrived
is loud with ghosts
I want to say, but sometimes
much is said and little learned
and I have said a lot today
that no one will hear anyway
so I will let the ocean
have the final say
where waves end
in an endless serenade.
2 August 2022
Texas Jim
Prospect, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca