This Far South

-

THIS FAR SOUTH


About once every two years belief 

sticks overnight and quiets


the dead. Etched in white, the woods

don't make us choose between


forest and trees. Our soles let us know 

exactly where we’ve been already, 


where we’ve yet to go, and the road 

behind the house is hushed 


as schools close—who would dare

to venture knowing in these conditions?


Over a steaming packet of quick mix

someone says it’s hard to believe


there are people out there who live

in these conditions all the time. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quorum Present?

-
Do We Have a  Quorum?  Well we’re present—this hangnail of the living  contingent—and then  there’s the unaccounted for who came before quite likely peering in—for all  we know—through the wood-frame windows, eager to wipe a dust-hole  with their thumbs and watch the goings-on to see if we arrive at a kind  of consensus. So to answer your question,  yes. And speaking of questions, theirs are ours and we carry the weight of them in the damp manila folders of our lives, eager to take the stand: On behalf of all of us, then, Why does it cost so much? Are we,  on this end of the bench, being  heard? And then, in a word,  what are we going to do about it? 
Read more

The Bends

-
 THE BENDS           At a certain depth the voices all thrum at the same, garbled pitch.  Both wisdom and the waiting swarm of bees call you up for air,  both wisdom and the Anglerfish draw you deeper. Do you paddle faster  from Leviathan or close your eyes and wait?  Once inside, do you stab the tender heart or caress it? There’s leagues on leagues but we’re in  out of ours and the tanks are low. You die if you come up too quick, you die  if you don’t surface soon, and at this sounding we won’t be dragged out by the light  of the moon. As to good news, t he returned ship sloshes vacant  at port while the wreck is found  at rest on solid ground, home now  to an ecosystem riddled with life.
Read more

Walker County Council Meeting: March 3rd

-
  Walker County Council Meeting: March 3rd — first Thursday of every month The quorum hobbles through the hobbled door of the civic center, as if being touched by God in the hip socket were requisite for living  here. Commissioner Teems bestows the blessing followed by the minutes, then opens the floor for public comment. The proposed rock quarry in Rock Spring is of chief concern, the chief financial officer proffering the neighborly promise to open the floor just above the water line,  which is just more lies—per Vince McGill  off Five Points Spur, down by the Helicopter Park— to obtain the land and begin drilling well below that, contaminating the ground- water. Up bubbles a low murmur, then a spill over  of comments regarding the recent infestation  of litterbugs in Lafayette, the merit of another bite on tax dollars for the county’s new Dodge Ram,  a shout-out for such a damn successful Desert Storm  memorial. No decisions are made,  a...
Read more