The Poems

Ghost Stories

From the Christmas, 1999, issue 

(No. 3)

These partial stories, forgotten stories, gaps

in stories, detailed stories, these unfinished

stories, over-and-done-with stories, stories

hidden in stories, stories hidden by stories,

these shards of stories, hints of stories, dead-

end stories, these spiralling stories, stories with

unknown endings, tellable stories, unmentionable

stories, repressed stories, these highlights-only

stories, oft-repeated stories, filtered stories,

fleeting-snippet childhood stories, these before

stories, after stories, trailing-off stories, these

spiked stories, like-yesterday stories

haunt us

and they will,

until we have them all, all,

exactly. And then,

mortal, they will haunt us still.