November PAD Chapbook Challenge – Day 15: Where the dead end

 
Day 15: write a ‘(blank) end’ poem (see link)
 
 
Where the dead end
 
You won’t see the dead end until you hit it.
That’s the nature of a dead end.
 
It’s not the ghost of your life you’ll encounter
or the echo of Christmases past,
 
but the spirit of the return waiting,
the sprint back to a future that never happens.
 
We hunt the missing line to a script half-written.
Rehearsed words sound hollow when heard.
 
This winter you’re a man walking beaches backwards,
following crabs edging sideways into the sea.
 
 
Copyright Vickie Johnstone, November 15, 2026