Driving the Front
From Route 15, out the West Corinth Road
through a village long dead but unaware,
on the McCard Road to Route 221;
the Merrill Road, ruts carved in early mud,
around Stetson Pond and finally to Route143:
thirty miles home on a map’s tiny capillaries
in late afternoon, followed, shadowed,
held close to the cold ground
by the clear definition of the front.
It’s the edge of something frightening, unknown.
I raise a hand to point it out to you,
but you are not there, never have been.
So much to explain in the late winter distances.
So much to show you, should you care to see:
still, right now, the sharp gray knife
of the front drives into my head,
worrying me about which side you’re on.
(for J.E.)
Anne Britting Oleson has been published widely in North America, Europe and Asia. She earned her MFA at the Stonecoast program of USM. She has published two chapbooks, The Church of St. Materiana (2007) and The Beauty of It (2010). Another book, Counting the Days, is scheduled for release next year.