Road-Building Instructions

Make it straight

through the briars

Leave it dirt

no matter if hollows

hold puddles

I want to sit

on my back steps

shelling peas

stringing beans

thinking poems

watching the child

on the fat-wheeled bike

waver and splash

all the far way

open the gate

keep geese in

rule cows out

reach in the box

stuff my mail

in her saddlebags

shut the gate

pause to pick

raspberries

bramble - and black -

lose count

then slowly

feet muddy

mouth purple

letters intact

wheel home