I can draw a map from memory. Even where the road is gone. The corner shop folded, the sign stayed up Dad kept screws in a plastic cup The bus turned left by the house with the dogs Then the road ran out where the creek got blocked Used to put that whole place down on paper While the grown-ups argued in the kitchen over bullshit later Little blue river with a square for the school With every front door facing somewhere new I left out the house where nobody spoke Made that a field with a couple of oaks Moved our street till it touched the shore My mom asked me why. Said, “There should be more.” I can draw a map from memory Leave a little room for me Put the water where the houses used to be There should be more There should be more Leave a little room for me First job in a basement, burned by fluorescent light Tracing the exact place where the day turns into night My supervisor leaning with his hand on mine: Said “It's Whole lot cheaper if we straighten this line.” There was somebody’s washing across the dead end Two little white shirts and a fence to mend On the screen, it's just a number to clear Zoom far enough out and it disappears Zoom far enough out and it disappears Now the room goes cold when I uncap a pen Somebody asks what to tell them again Say it brings work and it cuts the drive. Say we’ve done the figures. Let the figures decide. I can draw a map from memory Leave a little room for me Move the edge another street Everybody needs somewhere to sleep We’ll find somewhere We’ll find somewhere Leave a little room for me Got a wall full of places I’ve never been Little red lights where the trucks come in One of them stalls and a man downstairs Says a crowd’s on the road and they won’t move clear Well, who gave them notice? Who signed it off? Why am I hearing this after the fact? There’s a school on the route? There’s a school on the route. Get me the person who approved that map. Hold There’s a woman in frame with her hand on the gate. Don’t send that upstairs. Let me watch. Wait. My mother had a dress like that. I can draw a map from memory But the gate is on the other side And the windows There were only three. There were only three. Leave a little room for me Someone asks if we’re moving ahead. I put the cap back on the pen. “Move it.” “Move it.” “Move it. Again” Leave a little room for me
