Tuesday poem #414 : Courtney Bates-Hardy : The Walk to Work

 

 

A senseless man  
lying in the street with his leg 
inside out. I saw down to his bone— 

shocked shade of white against  
the black asphalt—it had never seen 
the sun. The glass on the bus window 

was cracked up to the sky, and I 
watched my co-worker exit, stop 
to take in the scene: the man, 

responders on their knees, his leg 
reaching back towards his body, 
and then, seeing nothing 
she could do, continue 

the walk to work. As I followed, 
the man’s screams awoke and rose  
higher and higher above the street.  

 

 

Courtney Bates-Hardy is the author of House of Mystery (2016) and a chapbook titled Sea Foam (2013). Her poems have appeared in Room, This Magazine, and the Canadian Medical Association Journal, among others. She lives in Regina with her partner and their cat where she is currently working on her second collection of poetry, tentatively titled Anatomy of a Monster. 

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan