In a Montreal Bus Station By Chad Paretneau

Of course

it’s here 

you finally

have clarity

that you are

the asshole

in someone

else’s story

to be offed

offscreen. 

At least 

this means

you’ll be

fan favorite

for going

too soon.

Maybe by

story’s end

survivors 

will name

a new pet

after you,

one last 

tug-of-hearts.

Chad Parenteau hosts Boston’s long-running Stone Soup Poetry series. His work has appeared in journals such as Résonancee, Molecule, Ibbetson Street, Pocket Lint, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, The Skinny Poetry Journal, The New Verse News, dadakuku, Nixes Mate Review and The Ugly Monster. He has also been published in anthologies such as French Connections, Sounds of Wind, Reimagine America, and The Vagabond Lunar Collection. His newest collections are All's Well Isn't You and Cant Republic: Erasures and Blackouts. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine and co-organizer of the annual Boston Poetry Marathon. He lives and works in Boston.