Road Conditions
This poem won Third place in the 2008 2-Day Poem Contest
january weather is agitated daily along
the four-oh-one. each nimbus vessel
pausing to think before sloughing
ice, rain, snow, hail.
this is one nervous system.
each passing article describes
the rising, the freezing
point punctured, and winds, not
content with tree branches,
rattle the burlington skyway, aiming
to wrench free cars that seem burned
to the road. these hearts of the cities,
exhausting all welcome,
skid, pile, buckle
like cancered chests, asphalt filling
each separate thorax, wedged solidly
between everything needed. the finest
filament sews while fumes seep
into the grand river. swelling like any
wound, waters paint the sleeping grass
sienna. but this muck is no proof
of spring. there is such desperation
in the lack of birds.
Published online June 01 2008.
This poem was a winner in CV2’s annual 2-Day Poem Contest. Every April, CV2 challenges players to create a new original poem that uses all 10 words of our choosing. It’s poetry under pressure for prizes, publication, and personal bests. Learn how to sign up for the next 2-Day Poem Contest.
This piece was published in ‘Poem as Travelogue,’ the Summer 2008 issue of CV2.
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