Phantoms

• Craig Van Dort, Grade 9, Emmaus Junior College
• Poetry
• 2007

3rd in the 'Calling All Poets 2007' competition

I leave my apartment, and see the blackness of the silent street outside.
The bitter air grabs and strangles me as I walk…but I hold back my choking.
Factories are in the distance, smoking their big cigars, never pausing.
I feel my chest tighten…I watch the sky…
Slowly drifting phantoms of grey and black, blocking any source of light…up there,
Talking to the buildings…
They leave the city in darkness, in permanent shadow.
I start coughing, the wind murdering me.
I hear it laughing…cackling in apathy at me.
So I run back to the apartment block- only to look out the window at the phantoms drifting by.