The Paddock Review

New.Holland                                                                                                                                   

 

Hard to believe,

but there on the flatland, outcrop—

hard to believe

the geography textbook’s products of

 

but the routines of the houses are just as solid.

The solids of the square, squarish houses are undeniable.

Even the bank’s letterhead, a conscious modernity

of 1960 achieving it

 

an outcrop, a wart,

that independent

 

for the grocery store, hardware store

to supply

the necessities, their own,

not conduits of other or of wonder

blanking out this place.

 

 

 

This poem originally appeared  in The Rockford Review, and can be found in the chapbook Hallways by Allen Strous (Finishing Line Press) at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/hallways-by-allen-strous/