Category: Poem-A-Day 2025

Avoid The Area

police activity at the Rotunda:
problem or solution?
the phone buzzes
avoid the area

Jefferson’s roads have too many cars
he didn’t see this coming
too busy … you know
avoid the area

a softening of the heart
a lowering of walls
advice over the phone:
avoid the area

later we learn
someone shot himself
in the dark on the campus lawn
avoid the area

sell yourself short
sell yourself cheap
just sell yourself
avoid the area

don’t ask questions
don’t speak up
don’t make waves
avoid the area

/ / /

5/5/25
Charlottesville VA

this place is nowhere

I have learned nothing
about this place
I know the route from home to work
from home to Wegmans
from home to downtown
when my partner drives back
to their other place
I don’t know which direction they go
most days I seem to be floating
like Fenchurch in the Adams book
never quite touching the ground
today someone from afar
told me I’m flourishing
my sister says my life is stable
my kids, well, I’m never sure about them
but me? I’m here but not here
like a main street façade
built for a movie
it looks real if you don’t get too close
don’t peek around the back
don’t see the beams
propping up the illusion
I’m a dusty western town
tumbleweeds blowing through
a short hop from the highway
that goes everywhere and nowhere

/ / /

17 April 2025
Charlottesville VA