Stones: Poems

Resume

Where the train once rained

through town

like a river, where the water

rose in early summer

& froze come winter—

where the moon

of the outhouse shone

its crescent welcome,

where the heavens opened

& the sun wouldn’t quit—

past the gully or gulch

or holler or ditch

I was born.

Or, torn—

Dragged myself

atop this mountain

fueled by flour, butter-

milk, grease fires.

Where I’m from

women speak

in burnt tongues

& someone’s daddy dug

a latrine so deep

up from the dark

dank bottom springs a tree.

OBLIVION

It’ll look

like you are lost—

just keep going

Halter

Nothing can make, make me want

to stay

in this world—

not the grass

with its head of hair

turning grey—

not the sway-back horse

in the field

I swear I almost saw

start to saunter—

nor the bent shadows

late in the day

drawing close—

the neighbor’s boat

not yet docked

gathering snow—

not the dream

with the moose hunched

in its crown

shedding velvet

led by a silver halter

through the shaded campground

a shawl over its