This Far Away
       

Absolutes of water and atmosphere wait for us
across barbed wire, the distance rubbed flat, and the rustle
of waves held by the cave's cold-collecting dark.

Raffish, roof-high vertical sheep. A gargle of seagulls
against the grain of dunes; a turquoise sea caught
in every dip and cut between rough land and gables ...

A cat pours itself over a wall. A canny dog adopts
and trails us like a dangerous thought we want forgotten.
It turns out the sky is one of two things, a Magritte
or a blue and white cow. But such interruptions are rare

because we think this far away nothing will happen,
yet when we get there we are different — brash, louder,
more flush, less impatient — with enough to drink
and space to roam and never retrace our conjoined steps.

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Copyright © 2011 Howard Wright All rights reserved
from King of Country
The Black Staff Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission