from “Road Shoulders”

power lines held by birds

of prey the hostile expanse above

 

ditches teeming floral invasive

wayside fleurs

 

late summer the shoulder sang

 

holds breeze by

the course of the drive

 

ravelling winds furl sparse treetops

 

semi-trailers startle traffic to attention

righted to the middle steady

 

a point of calm

 

a sense of pedal to headrest

never lost hope of going somewhere

 

a waiting trench the front across the dash

deep open road through the window

 

on the glass

bokeh crystals of settlement

 

streaming past mirror side appears larger

 

after all the lakes hold ashes and fur

 

long route tapers to a blue-strip august

 

the walk along here I was a daughter then

along a highway

 

on the route she shines on

leaning into the path as nettle heavy with rain