2nd Street
It still reminds us of Murakami’s “Barn Burning”.
Every time it comes up in conversation,
you repeat exactly the same thing,
that line from the story.
It makes us laugh,
then go quiet
as we
think,
you about
arson and literature,
me about how peculiar
it is that this encounter
became a defining feature of your
single short glimpse of my home town.