hear that gravel bellied song
that gravel bellied reply
these birds foreign to me flash
flickers of color unrecognized
shelled by a walnut tree
I sit on match sticks, splinters
cows low at that side of the road
sun hasn’t broke the ridgeline
soon heat will reach dangerous
I’ve memorized this same sky
deep in the wings of night
when the only sounds
are cricket’s legs
and the slow burn of stars
as night stretches
time is once again
valueless
it's past time to shelter
crawl into a bed of dead lizards
let the swamp cooler
take the sting
out of that thermometer
or see if the tire patch
will handle this sticky tarmac
through one armadillo towns
complete with headless bears
and collapsed eaves
in a roadhouse
I order a gallon of sweet tea
a platter of catfish
let the air conditioner be my spine
if luck holds
beyond mark twain
or the mississippi
then it's keokuk
the sixty-one highway
disappears
the ghosts of iowa
eccentric as howard hughes
Jason Baldinger is a poet and photographer from Pittsburgh, PA. He’s penned fifteen books of poetry the newest of which include: A History of Backroads Misplaced: Selected Poems 2010-2020 (Kung Fu Treachery), and This Still Life (Kung Fu Treachery) with James Benger. His first book of photography, Lazarus, as well as two ekphrastic collaborations (with Rebecca Schumejda and Robert Dean) are forthcoming. His work has appeared across a wide variety of online sites and print journals. You can hear him from various books on Bandcamp and on lps by The Gotobeds and Theremonster. His etsy shop can be found under the tag la belle riviere.
