3859. YER CHUNK

YER CHUNK

(reading, pennsylvania)

High, high, high on Windham Hill

I stood  -  standing back ten steps

no more from the edge of this quite

precipitous cliff. This old gravel

road was the test-track for old

Duryea Motor Cars  -  and the

Duryea factory was quite nearby.

Now, they test nothing but air and

trinkets and coffee and snacks, and

the schoolkid fantasies at the old

gravel pits. I want to disappear, go

away, dissolve in your old, fast car.

-

Michael, where are we? Mary, what

is this, and where are all our saints?

You call this town Reading, Pennsylvania,

and I know nothing more  -  there are

hospitals and medical clinics and plenty

of poor. Strange men are walking the streets.

-

I've kept nothing of your time in my head -

good God it is emptied out. Vacuousness

resounds on the cavernous outer walls and

I am  -  once more  -  seeking redemption

in shadows and grooves. Deliver me from

Evil, deliver me from justice, from

something, amen.