James Wright from Milhouse by English Majors

In Response to a Rumor that the Oldest Whorehouse in Wheeling, West Virginia Has Been Condemned by James Wright
I will grieve alone,
As I strolled alone,
years ago, down along
The Ohio shore.
I hid in the hobo jungle weeds
Upstream from the sewer main
Pondering, gazing.

I saw, down river,
At Twenty-third and Water Streets,
By the vinegar works,
The doors open in the early evening.

Swinging their purses, the women
Poured down the long street to the river,
And into the river.
I do not know how it was
They could drown every evening.
What time near dawn did they climb up the other shore,
Drying their wings?
For the river at Wheeling, West Virginia
Has only two shores:
The one in hell,
the other
In Bridgeport, Ohio
And nobody would commit suicide, only
To find beyond death
Bridgeport, Ohio.

• Experimental
• Indie
• Minneapolis