DRIVING ACROSS THE SALT FLATS
WHILE LISTENING TO HOMER'S ODYSSEY
by Justin Evans
A full Utah moon—
yellow, fattened,
rises behind me
in the last moments of day,
before dusk is erased.
Slowly, the moon sheds its onion skin
becomes a worn silver dollar
as it slides parallel, hovers
over the basin of this ancient lake:
silver light reflecting salt,
salt reflecting back.
Beneath the black night, sagebrush
rooted in the alkaline flats
sways like sea anemone
back and forth
in the gentle desert breeze.
Millennia have passed since water
has graced this small pocket of earth,
but at night a person can become lost
within the depths of this wine dark sea,
only headlights and the constant mirror
of the moon to show the way.
"Driving Across the Salt Flats Listening to Homer's Odyssey" is from Gathering Up the Leaves, an as of yet unpublished chapbook manuscript. Evans was born and raised in Utah. His previous chapbook, Four Way Stop, was published by Main-Traveled Roads in 2005, and focuses on his hometown of Springville. It should be available for order through the author at [email protected] this year. He was nominated for a 2005 Pushcart Prize by the Green Hills Literary Lantern, and has been teaching English and reading in Nevada for the past six years.
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A NOTE TO THE POETS OUT THERE
I'm interested in considering your "poems of place" for publication in The Middlewesterner's "Saturday's Poem" feature; send two or three of your best in the body of an e-mail addressed to [email protected] . Put "Saturday's Poem" in the subject line. Then be patient. I will get back to you about whether I'll use your work or not. Send along a short biographical note and information about where your books can be purchased and I'll include that when your poem runs. There's no payment involved for having your work appear in "Saturday's Poem," but the feature is seen by some few high class readers. Click here for complete index of and access to "Saturday's Poems" poems published prior to September 18, 2004.
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