Alan May
Image by Castorly Stock from Pexels
Alan May holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama. He has published three books of poetry. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Hollins Critic, The Idaho Review, New Orleans Review, The New York Quarterly, DIAGRAM, The Hong Kong Review, and others. He hosts The Beat, a poetry podcast produced by Knox County Public Library.
[Take the gravel underneath my feet]
Take the gravel underneath my feet
as I walk past the cabin door. Take
the hail and rotten branches falling
on tin roofs, the coyotes that wake
the children across the lake. Take
the black dog beaten with a metal
pipe. Take the woman holding
the pipe. Take the blowflies humming
above the rocks. Take the clock
that no longer ticks. Take
the muzzle of the loaded
rifle standing in the corner. Take
the dirty dollar bills someone
would kill for. Take the opiates
and vodka in my brother’s glove box.
The slit screen and the silent entrance.
Take the tires burning in the pasture.
I limp the highway toward town
where men are ogling topless waitresses,
where homeless men are kicked with heavy boots.
Take the blood running from the back doors
of the processing plant into the ditch.
The stench of the paper mill that pollutes
the air I breathe. The armory
with its rusty vehicles and munitions.
Take the trucks on the highway come
evening. Take the deer
that litter the shoulder at dawn.
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