Kome’s Story

for auntie nagasaki

it's the same story

told again & again

the modulations

& the machinations

the maudlin

& the dream

schemes & data

a million documents

& a single story

kome's

she said she

moved into her house

her dream house

on december 6th

fell into a deep sleep

stirred the dream

to wake

to war

& the splitting apart

her son

sent off to petawawa

barbed wire

her husband

to tête jaune

herself to

greenwood

green

wood?

ghost

town?

new names

her memory

& the train

(later

to montreal

"the commission

said there'd

be jobs there"

5 days

4 nights

sitting & sleeping

in the coach

dreaming of

the coast

the french tongue

the english tongue

words

& words

o

canada