More than ghosts
in the alleys of this town
more than sounds from
the old ballast streets—
no spring on the smoky wind
no blues to solve a wrong
and no one writes songs here
anymore.
Ancestors huddle
along the verge
in the narrowness
of bloodlines and kinfolk
down the edges where water
seeks a way to the coast—
miles of lifetime
though not so far
say the shadows
atop these old
buildings.
L. Ward Abel’s work has appeared in hundreds of journals (Rattle, Versal, The Reader, Galway Review, Worcester Review, Main Street Rag, others), and he is the author of four full collections and eleven chapbooks of poetry, including Green Shoulders—New and Selected Poems 2003–2023 (Silver Bow, 2023), and The Teller’s Road (Bottlecap, 2025). He is a retired lawyer and teacher of literature, he writes and plays music, and lives in rural Georgia.
