Goodbye Old Paint

by Nyle Holihan

smell of burning oil
slow trundle
     through church traffic

"Tecumseh Valley"
       rolls from the stereo
and settles like fog
while wonky Cindy
       still echoes underneath
as the air grows stiller
heavy
     thick sweat under wool

as a chainsaw revs
then is satisfied
the confirmation lines the road
       in the beckoning curl
       of naked and skinned trunks

traffic thins
SUVs in shellac shades
piling into a great lot
concrete and tarmac
oily and perpetual against
       the old stone of the bell-gable

I think of my parents
their dream
          half-realised

some pain
gliding in
       through woodworm holes
dry beams creaking
fear
     a slick
     in prismatic colours

wind whistles in two tones
and the engine light flashes off for a moment
          turn the corner
into the lot behind the bar

a sound below a hiss
as gravel meets tyres


I feel a weight behind the eyes
and on the shoulders
     something slower than hate
rain falls in little threads and
the padlock is stiff
the door screeches high      opens

sunlight greys
fights through grimy windows
          I flick a yellowed switch

and it is
replaced in a rush
by a dry electric light
that reflects white in the beer mirrors

a smell like sweet vinegar
hangs above
          the yellow reek of old smoke

my fingers feel thick and slow
tie a double bow
around a black apron

roll a loose cigarette

fill the bucket with bleach
          warm water
relish quiet as

rain grows to a swaying rhythm
loud on the flat roof

early drinkers screech in
thinning hair
     greased down
by rain or pomade
or both

the morning crowd
          bottled beer
          screwdrivers
          bloody marys
lidded silence

a slow well of regret

Nyle Holihan is a poet and musician from the UK. He studied Creative Writing at the University of Kent. He is a Banjo player and his work is interested in how music, memory, and history inform identity, often drawing on the African, Irish and British roots of American Old-time folk. He is also a guitarist and bassist with the band Brown Horse.

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