Some days I\u2019m afraid I am driven
\nlonely by the impulse for loss.
\nAt a gas station, the parking lot is empty
\nbut for three men in stiff work jackets.<\/p>\n
The tank fills with a sluggish pace and the air is thin
\nlike it\u2019s been stretched too far\u2014ink
\nstirred into so much water.<\/p>\n
I used to know a guy from Anson,
\na landscape painter. He\u2019d get drunk Sundays
\nbefore the dinner shift to drive backroads in high, late sun\u2014
\ncrystalline blue and green
\nof mid-summer\u2014just asking for it.
\nThe pine trees damp with their own sap, dark and green.<\/p>\n
And I think about him\u2014though last I knew
\nhe\u2019s still working\u2014
\nwhat he wanted, if he\u2019d become a stranger to it,
\nhow we are asked over and over
\nwhat it is that we want.<\/p>\n
One lit sign over the chipped entrance
\nand starlings on the thermals. I see them now.
\nOne\u2019s wing has caught in the final light.
\nAn ostentation. A diminution.
\nI know it too.<\/p>\n
The sound his Volkswagen tires made was liquid-slick
\nbeneath his breath; the sun in rapid succession
\nchanged places with the ground.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Some days I\u2019m afraid I am driven lonely by the impulse for loss. At a gas station, the parking lot is empty but for three men in stiff work jackets. The tank fills with a sluggish pace and the air is thin like it\u2019s been stretched too far\u2014ink stirred into so much water. I used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2211,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[67],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-4lW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16736"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16737,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16736\/revisions\/16737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}