After Many Years I Dreamt I Came Back
After many years I dreamt I came back
to life as the newly renovated
central branch of the Kingston Frontenac
Public Library downtown on Johnson
between Bagot and Wellington.
It was late at night,
by the time I arrived
I was closed.
I didn’t know
what to do so
I woke up
and walked
back home.
Life In A Novel
The trouble started when the lightbulbs began to burn out in the novel. The author never replaced them. We realized we were on our own and could do whatever we wanted. I was originally just another nobody in an over-crowded paragraph. A stranger with "a distant look on his face" carrying "a black umbrella" who passes the happy couple in the street. Now I'm the only character left. Digging graves in the cold hard ground with my umbrella. I'm afraid the next person who picks up this novel off their shelf will die of shock after seeing what we've done to ourselves.
About this Poem
Jason Heroux read these poems on Saturday, March 23 at the Grand Re-Opening of the Central Branch after its two-year closure for renovations.
“After Many Years I Dreamt I Came Back” was written for the Re-opening and “Life in a Novel” was previously published in Jason’s first chapbook The Days Are Hardly Here At All (2003).
You can find more of Jason’s poetry and fiction in the KFPL catalogue.
