All the Worlds in Each of Twelve Hours (fragment)

~~~

Even great diesel engines cannot last forever.

     They have to give out in the end
     with a fierce finality,
     usually near ruined steelworks,
     liquor shacks in bad ends
     of towns.

There might be a long walk
through tall grass,
fields of wreckage
where nothing parts
to allow passage.

     And life is full of climbing
     and tetanus.

You find yourself in the strangest
places,
     waving to imaginary companions
     to avoid armed robbery,
     begging hot showers off of
     motor inns.

You learn to drink whiskey.

You force upon the tired world
     improbable miracles:
          the night’s last sober man
          loves God
          and has been where you are going,
          tells you where to sleep;
          a woman you know
          worries about you
          and decides that she is in love;
          an old man in a bar
          warns you about bears,
          offers you a gun.

~~~