Wachusett Street

Turning left onto

Wachusett Street, I cross

the unnamed stream.

It tumbles through a culvert

and out again,

almost unchanged,

disappearing

between houses.

Where does it flow?

I hear it running parallel

to the street, along the far

property line. I snuck

through a company's garden

to see it again

back there.

Where does it flow?

I found a confluence

two blocks on

behind the laundry mat

parking lot. Another

smaller

stream arrives, and together

they tumble into

a larger culvert,

a longer darkness.

Where does it flow?

I might have picked up

the path, over

the railroad tracks,

in

some industrial park.

Where does it flow?

On my map there's

a pond, another,

a string of small dams

a tenuous connection.

Where does it flow?

“The Ocean” is

too incomplete an answer.

Where does it flow?