Admonishment

Hilly here, the land an animal thrashing against the cage

of the interstate. The god I answer to is different

from the god I started with – still, I wouldn’t say I get

around. What now for the newsprint newlywed,

returned from an ancient place with zero

stories: EVERY DAY ANOTHER CHANCE NOT TO DRIVE TO RUINS,

AM I RIGHT? I couldn’t say. I looked away

when they pastured the steeper planes beyond the town.

As though for a portrait, sat for years

of lessons on infection and reproach for cryptic notes. It’s amazing

how much you can’t get from kissing.