Ghost Mall

It is not uncommon
for the neighbourhood kids
to climb through glass.

Hanging out
among the shuttered storefronts
of the ghost mall.

Passing the bottle
and sharing smokes.

Climbing on the tops
of the old phone kiosk,
a few customary pentagrams
spray-painted on the walls.

And down by the abandoned food court,
a ratty sleeping bag that does not appear to
be lived in at present.

Tourniquets and dirty needles,
a bed of rat droppings and sawdust
underfoot.

The jeweler’s cage torn off
and fashioned into a makeshift fort.

Kids racing shopping carts
over bloody cotton balls
and broken hangers.

Ryan Quinn Flanagan is a Canadian-born author who lives in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada with his wife and many bears that rifle through his garbage.  His work has been published both in print and online in such places as: The New York Quarterly, Rusty Truck, Trailer Park Quarterly, Evergreen Review, Red Fez, The Literary Underground, Horror Sleaze Trash and The Blue Collar Review.  He enjoys listening to the blues and cruising down the TransCanada in his big blacked out truck.