A North-Westerly Town Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

A North Westerly town

It was an okay town when you got to know the place
a well-lit main road a hospital in one end and the docks
at the other end.
it was equality sat in system everyone had the right to a small
house made of bricks, this led to a maze of housing with roads
so narrow it only had place for bikes, the fire department
used bikes with a motor and a hanger for hoses.
The police used roller skates which the citizens were forbidden
to use.
In between the narrow housing, the were small cafes, shops and a place for,
mostly men could get a massage.
If you got lost, all you had to ask for the main road everyone knew where it was.
The language sounded like the sea slapping at the molos built
to keep the town from flooding.
I nearly got lost once I had asked for direction to the boulevard
as it was called, but I turned south instead of north and ended
up near the hospital and since I was in a hurry
hired a bike rickshaw and got down to the docks just in time
before my ship, that was slipping its mooring I had to jump
to get on board.