I took a road trip with M several weeks ago, and a couple of images have stayed with me since then for some reason. I may or may not post anything tomorrow, so this'll do.


driving

…at day
a bird surged from the wood by the road,
yawing back and forth with the weight
of an impossible branch—
thick, with twigs that fanned out, raked the sky,
the whole nile delta
clutched in a sparrow’s beak.

I saw this,
but just to be sure,
I reached back—
my arm went willingly to a crazy angle,
and I palmed the top of her newborn head,
(the whole world in her hands)
and traced its wispy swirls,
its labyrinth twists and turns.

…at night
illumined by rushing headlights,
pushed along by an invisible broom,
the trees are flat and swift, leaving behind a plump darkness.
and she is silent behind me, near the road to Wilderness, and
my wild heart prays she hasn’t been absorbed into the black miles—
I would never find her, never.
my hands cannot leave the wheel to check,
but my arm still groans at the shoulder,
my only comfort.