Highways
for Mark DeCarteret
By James Rioux


Maybe an abandoned electrical plant,
skeleton of a power once local—
or a run of fence meant to keep deer
from the hypnotic blare of our head lamps. . .
Certainly, there’s the body unmoved
and moving, the drone of rubber
on asphalt, the heater’s whir, dark row
of pines we can’t smell. . . And the stars,
reminders—to those who roam, tonight,
these wide lonely roads—of what is left
behind. . . We narrow our gaze on the pulse
of the future’s dotted line, flying
the draw of the sky’s full sprawl, our dumb-
struck pasts hung broadcast and shining.

James Rioux's work has appeared in a variety of publications including Prairie Schooner, Five Points, and The North American Review.  His first book, Fistfuls of the Invisible, was published by Penhallow Press in 2004.

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