Villages

“Villages” was published in the Sandy River Review.

You have seen this village before
the beer hall and inked stained arms
the come-down twitch of a boy
whose eyes you have also seen
as he looks up from his task
of picking litter off the street
then sanitizing his hands
from a vessel of Purell
carabinered to his pack
rubbing his knuckles until red, then repeating

There is another village
by a cold river
where life also hangs in the balance
beneath towering rocks
that sometimes fall at night and
circling vultures pass the sun like a clock
their nature to wait for death

You want to take him there, the boy
to cool his chafed fingers
among the troutlings
unclasp his brow
in resonance of bells
pulsing in the valley

The old 71 bus kneels with a hiss
taking the man, now bent
to another corner to clean
in another village