John Grey

The Fountain’s Story

The fountain’s long neglected.
Its spout is silent.
Its basin is stained.
A boy with a watering can
has a sickly green skin.
He’s just a statue.
That explains his hair color,
the grey of bird droppings.
A guy, unshaven,
with a scarred left cheek
is sprawled on his back
across its concrete rim.
He’s not a statue.
There’s a penny at the bottom
half sucked-up by brown ooze.
Makes me wonder
who goes wishing here.

 

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in Soundings East, Dalhousie Review and Connecticut River Review with work upcoming in West Trade Review, Willard and Maple and the MacGuffin.