Metaphysics of a Skeleton by Jason Baldinger

it took four hours

to make the north dakota

line, I left great falls

a banshee burning

through remnants

of lewis and clark camps

at the edge of grassland

nowhere, accelerator pressed

I was light speed

there is nothing to do

in great falls on a sunday

before the season opens

except listen to water

roar in the dark

six weeks on the road

I was the metaphysics

of a skeleton, the road

picking me clean

in an efficient, antiseptic

motel. I, taco connoisseur

deal in the worst

del, john and sol

99 cent varieties

lost in solo gluttony

this is the place we lose

track of narrative, as if all

those dinosaurs buried under

the surface have influence

as they fade to fossil

here on blacktop disappearing

with endless open miles

between horizons, let it be

known someday I will be gone

from here, no trace

the mountains will continue

to wither, but I will be the sky

looking for its reflection

in the grass and the dust

---

Jason Baldinger is from Pittsburgh and misses roaming the country writing poems. His newest book is A Threadbare Universe (Kung Fu Treachery Press). Forthcoming books The Afterlife is a Hangover (Stubborn Mule Press) and A History of Backroads Misplaced (Kung Fu Treachery) . His work has been published widely across print journals and online. You can hear him read his work on Bandcamp and on lp’s by The Gotobeds and Theremonster.