whiskey magnolias
and red rivers rising
carry me home
by way
of the south
eastward and skyward
take me Kentucky
where sunsets are gathered
to ferry me now

blackberry bruises
and two kinds of loving
made for me
saved for me
all I have known
fruit trees have taken
the worst of the winters
and words cling to pages
of story outgrown

passionate placement
of names before curses
sweet tea
and all day to dream –
light from the window
spills now the morning –
as love fills the places
we passed
in between

keep to your slumber
and I will be there –
tangled to threads
where reason fell through
dogwood and darling
nobody knows –
of roads I’m becoming
(winding my) way
back to you

. . .