Mudlark No. 46 (2012)

Think of the Highways

the long distance conversations
between old friends; the tight
chests speeding to ER; the remissions,

the reprieves. Think of the gleaming
limos with the doomed wedding
couples, the skeleton inside the ones

who will stand alone at the graveside
some day hence. Think of the measureless weight
of fog, beams of headlights, screech

of brakes; the pavement buckling
in so many places, knuckling under tons
of timber, tomatoes, oil.

There have been holy men who said
Believe and the roads will end in joy—
Sometimes at night I swear I hear

the soft shoulders weeping, the deathless
potholes crying out.

Susan Kelly-DeWitt | Ruby Crowned Kinglet 
Contents | Mudlark No. 46 (2012)