---

Donald Justice - American Sketches
Work rating: Low

CROSSING KANSAS BY TRAIN 


The telephone poles 
Have been holding their 
Arms out 
A long time now 
To birds 
That will not 
Settle there 
But pass with 
Strange cawings 
Westward to 
Where dark trees 
Gather about a 
Water hole this 
Is Kansas the 
Mountains start here 
Just behind 
The closed eyes 
Of a farmer’s 
Sons asleep 
In their work clothes 


POEM TO BE READ AT 3 A.M. 


Excepting the diner 
On the outskirts 
The town of Ladora 
At 3 A.M. 
Was dark but 
For my headlights 
And up in 
One second-story room 
A single light 
Where someone 
Was sick or 
Perhaps reading 
As I drove past 
At seventy 
Not thinking 
This poem 
Is for whoever 
Had the light on
Source
The script ran 0.001 seconds.