Through the peephole you can see the hall
where the cats hide from the men
who drink under the staircase
to avoid the light
on the corner surrounded
by the shadow in which the pigeons
keep out of reach of the windows
that face the railyard
where the kids tag their names
on the trains that carry people
under the park downtown
through the homeless
that are stepped over
in rain that swells the river
that pilots the dead swept
through the street by the wind
that parts the crowd
gathered at the site
of the accident
nobody who saw
will talk about.
Derek Thomas Dew
Derek Thomas Dew (he/she/they) is a neurodivergent, non-binary poet currently living in New York City and teaching in New Jersey.
Derek’s debut poetry collection “Riddle Field” received the 2019 Test Site Poetry Prize from the Black Mountain Institute/University of Nevada. Derek’s poems have been published widely.