an on-line poetry magazine
for the 21st century

COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE SUMMER 2023

Larry Carradini

BEYOND THE SPUR

Where the track stops
there is a moment
of pause,
a deliberate
hesitation,
a silent haze of
insecurity;
the throat
tightens.
Each step is tentative;
push comes to shove,
driving each stumbling
half-fall
forward.
The need to purchase a
one way each day
to the end of the line,
appears embossed on self-same
loose skin ever tightening
as it sags
around this bag of sticks,
withering
in the snow.