August 31, 2022   •   By Nathan Blansett

so they went through each other, the train and the convoy, it took some time for them to move through each other and then each went its own way

one thing constantly enters another, becoming not one with it but taking its place, and on and on, a current

Out of the garment of the land out of the of

There in the ravine the place that’s deepest, bent

Out of the what if what is emerging don’t look meanwhile the trees are doing their thing late August thing, sounds like they need some moisturizer

what if what is emerging is what’s here

I sensed you were about to say Do you know how much I’ve loved you and I said, Oddly yes but have been baffled as to why

Mom and I whispering, huddled on a set of bleachers that run all the way around a conference table, behind the Czech supermodel who’s gained custody of my son because she is his mother

and when the anesthesiologist appeared with his little bucket-like tray forcing myself to say Actually, his eyebrows going up and my goggled obstetrician telling him She said no, then the boy squirted out so I thought, well I cheated and she, his wife, has my baby, it’s natural

And scrambling down the hill steep as scree, soft loam under dry leaves punctuated by standing figures, trees, I came to the rear of the school groups and followed them against my inclination up the mountain, jogging under the chairlift Amanda who was friendly and unattractive in an almost fascinating way riding upward to my right uncomfortable with her weight There’d been those two slim women in leather jackets getting wet teaching children how to swim in a kiddie pool, showing me its faucets

I felt too inward, unwilling to immerse myself though down that slope I’d picked up a small jacket to carry the rest of the day in case I found its owner

I on yours, a correspondence absent light or sound especially useful around others, in a car, at the dinner table

as I sped down that way and thought why not enjoy this, meaning look at it, so I looked

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