Hugh McMillan
The Toilet at the Culag Inn
It’s funny
but when you leave the toilet at the Culag Inn,
you come back in.
When I was sober I could leave.
I remember the world then;
the sky was bright blue.
But I have a history of alcohol abuse
and now I am always here.
It’s not so dreary.
The hand-driers work now and then
and sometimes old friends come in,
stare at me oddly, I think
because they have the secret of getting
out of things,
or perhaps they are dead.
I tend the graffiti, count time
in the cracks of porcelain and lead,
wonder if the children still climb
in the hills and if the grass is still as green.
Maybe my mind is tricking me
and there was never long ago,
or any other place.
I look out of the small window
and wonder if the dark birds have
always crossed my face.
but when you leave the toilet at the Culag Inn,
you come back in.
When I was sober I could leave.
I remember the world then;
the sky was bright blue.
But I have a history of alcohol abuse
and now I am always here.
It’s not so dreary.
The hand-driers work now and then
and sometimes old friends come in,
stare at me oddly, I think
because they have the secret of getting
out of things,
or perhaps they are dead.
I tend the graffiti, count time
in the cracks of porcelain and lead,
wonder if the children still climb
in the hills and if the grass is still as green.
Maybe my mind is tricking me
and there was never long ago,
or any other place.
I look out of the small window
and wonder if the dark birds have
always crossed my face.
Page(s) 31
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