(in reply to Rilke)
You Must Change Your Life


I often think I should,
but these days I find
I move with all the speed
of a tree, born
with roots, not feet, the better
to entwine the few
people that I love
and hold on in the dark.



On the Edge of a Very Small Town


So flat
it streches forever,
which is not halfway

to Clovis.
Which is nowhere.
May as well stay.





Office Chair Abandoned by a Country Road


You could swivel
all around 
to wonder at the ledger
of starlight,
trucks,
ditches,
gravel,
bats,
moon

Of crickets chanting,
We belong,
the wind conducting business
with the stubble,
with
crows asleep
in the corn

When the morning comes
half the assets
would be gone

A little wet with dew,
you would be rich



©2014 Mark Jackley