Ghost Mall
Getting lost in the Independence Center
makes it feel like the shops trade places
after skylights darken, the food courts
rearrange their tables and chairs.
In his sleep, Zoltar advises himself
for free. In SEARS, a child climbs out
of the clothes rack where she’s been hiding
her bleeding vagina and searches
Human Resources for a vending machine.
At 9:15, when the shutters go down,
my wife and I stop looking for Teavana
and start looking for an exit. Grandma
brought me here, of all places, before dying
for ten years at The Groves, dying over
romance novels and cups of Jell-O.
Tonight, I see her sitting in the playground
beside the dark carousel.
She is still waiting for me to dismount
from my bedazzling steed.