Could You Find Me?

Posting this for Meegan. Final version, baby.



Could You Find Me?


Could you find me?
In the early morning
drifting between the pines
with the smell of loam and salt
and pine needles
crunched beneath my steps

Could you find me?
On a dusty barefoot trail
between pecan tree shadows
at the edge of a scorching Georgia cotton field
where mysteries shimmer, silver-blue on cotton leaves
and dragonflies
and the ghost of a dead snake
hover around me.

Listen for me.
I'm tripping along the train tracks,
curving through the darkness,
with a penny that my father gave me
warm and flattened
in my hand
in my pocket.

Look for me.
I'm floating in the gloaming
on the big muddy river
past the island
where my father's white stone
fades to gray.

Do you see me out there?
I'm rustling through the saw-blade corn leaves,
covered in pollen and smelling like
grass and honey.

I might have been difficult to see
quiet in German forests
covered in green and brown like all the others
You may not have noticed me
a speck of sand
in an African desert
my boots worn
and white with salt

Could you find me out there
like you found me
in my blue shirt
in the coffee shop?
It seemed so easy,
but I had to travel so long
so far
so alone
to get to where
you found me.




(© 2007 SPH. All Rights Reserved.)