Poetry by Brian Beatty

            ​ Nicolas Henderson CC



Ghosts


One old man in town 
had a shop repairing bicycles 
and lawnmowers. 

On the opposite corner
stood the red brick Chevrolet dealership 
where my father sold cars.

Other men back then did other things
to make a living like mining coal 
and driving 18-wheelers all the way to California.

They disappeared long before
they were actually gone or missed
according to local women.

How the empty bars stayed in business
and what country songs played on their lonely 
jukeboxes remain mysteries to this day.

​

Brian Beatty is the author of the poetry collections Magpies and Crows; Borrowed Trouble; Dust and Stars: Miniatures; Brazil, Indiana: A Folk Poem; and Coyotes I Couldn’t See. Hobo Radio, a spoken-word album of Beatty’s poems featuring original music by Charlie Parr, was released by Corrector Records in January 2021. Beatty lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

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