Grand Lake Nowhere, Ohio

Sitting on an wooden Eagle Scout project,
I skim The Odyssey for my first year of college.

A spider with lessons teaches me
about waking up at 4 A.M. to build
a barn out of steel that no one wanted.

About walking two miles every day
between dusty rows of accusing chickens.
( I swear they say my name.)

About Nascar-mowing around orchard trees
with painfully inquisitive branches.

But, mostly about dropping a beautiful web
to the ground and starting over
in a bigger town with a bigger lake
and the same tiny aspirations.

  • March 26, 2008