Virginia is pretty much finished
Discounted discontinued lipsticks
Days Inn clerk plucking Funyuns at 2 am
I forget what great experiment we’re part of
But we’ve already come so far
When you touch me I can feel it giving up
Put down your drink and get in my car

*

On Facebook I saw his whole self turned toward her
In the puffs of her dress he dropped secrets
He saw there the minutest seams and creases
The courthouse steps stayed stone
Dirty, thirsty California in the background
Bended over itself and over
I saw still he intended forever

Title taken from Peter Gizzi’s poem, published in Some Values of Landscape and Weather (Wesleyan, 2003)