LXVI.

by Benjamin Winkler

crushed     summer beetles    with barefeet
bargained     the meaning     of said
counted     breaths between     lightning out
 
on kresson     it is     not the experience
but an     account of     windows down
turnpike     headed north     new york
 
low gas     batsto     a handful
of loam     with cocolaglass     in it
we made     ournselves     a denial

LXVII.

skinned mouth     for begun to     woods edge
cutfield where     mothers nourish     us
selves     half stalks     mix pollutants
 
rt. 70     a pallet we     undressed
fold     clamskin back     from bone
could use     breath     bandaged
 
each other     in bedsheets     counted
contrails     over pines     the same
belief we     had in     beginnings
 
 

LXIX.

caught racetrack     wrote prayers     on discarded
slips stuck     in chainlink     between parking
lot and wawa     could mister til    someone
 
called     thin as     car exhaust
evaporated     like heat on     asphalt
scraped palms     skinned knees     a please
 
that stuck     in the back of     the throat
a quick    gesture made     hand for hand
a winner     turning hard     around