i wanted this place to be a repository
for all the moments that
would not quite stack up in my mind-
the kind of memories that stand together
like newly introduced strangers
shuffling with softly pocketed hands.
***
the things we saw
forming
on our flesh that morning
***
traveling out
of a town we did not yet comprehend
green belt horizons
flying past like spokes on a bike:
we knew then
that the worst was yet to come.