How the World Was Made

Vision

Fluorescent sheen on macadam; Nazi tattoos on walls facing abandoned rail tracks; dream-freight entering mountains to the west (carrying away yesterday's mattresses, radios, rubber gloves...): Everything is beautiful because it is ending.

Venus burns over the skyline — bright, brighter, straining the heart. In the 7-11 parking lot a retarded man whistles and clicks like a starling next to a busted payphone. Another secret language, gone before it can be deciphered.

In the rail yard, she balances on a rail line, naked, arms out, eyes straight ahead, dollar bills pasted across her torso, thighs. This is what I have been waiting for my entire life. Silence trails behind her, pulls me towards her.

number 20 in the 2River Chapbook Series