I didn’t see the trucks pull up.

An odd cargo was not
unloaded overnight.

There haven’t been any

inexplicable disappearances.
Those were not strangers in town.

I received no unusual mail,

had no calls. The fires were
not deliberately lit. Everything is as

I left it. This is not the wrong room.

I wasn’t shadowed, nor followed
home. There is no escape plan,

no unmarked plane waiting.

  • Ian McBryde is an award-winning Canadian-born Australian poet with six mainstream collections published.