Maps

MAPS

It’s not for lack of them available

to the public: in various vehicles  

they sit in stacks by the door

at corner stores, state lines, and other

thresholds, collecting dust but free

for taking. They’re even—at least 

regarding the long questions—more

or less up-do-date, in that the inter-

state scars are carved so deep that

a name-change here or there doesn’t

necessitate a reprint. We still get 

to where we tell ourselves we want 

to go, and quicker than before. 

No, our chronic lostness is not for 

lack of them. If we can’t seem 

to arrive at where we need to be, 

it may mean puzzling our inability

to decipher direction in lines

that speak in a cadence too fine

for animatronic voice, then slow down

enough to unravel the answer

we're looking for right in our laps.