Billboards







Billboards send some interesting messages, some better than others. I remember reading a particular one before I wrote a poem about it. I was thinking about a friend whom I couldn't contact. She'd moved away without a forwarding address. We later got in touch again when I saw the obituary of her husband in the paper. But while I was puzzled about where they went, I wrote this poem that was published by Tower Poetry Society (Summer 2009).



The billboard says
"Afford to retire"

What does it mean?
That I can afford to retire?
That few can afford it?

There was a number and a place
retire in Elliot Lake    you once said
Is that where you went?

The day I called
a mechanical voice said
"This number is no longer in service"
no forwarding number    nada

I've searched the book    hoping to find you
I wanted to say goodbye, hello, where are you

A goodbye would have been kind
a forwarding address even better
with a note "retired in Elliot Lake"

if that's where you are





Vol. 58  No. 1

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