By Avery Gregurich
after Donald Justice
besides the train
howling its path
the town of marengo
at eleven p.m.
was silent but
for the man
crawling along the
alley laughing
it got quiet after
awhile out where
the man lay passed
out against my
neighbor’s barn
i put on my
shoes to investigate
when a red
pickup truck
tore through the
night and called
out to him
you alright
and he just
laughed even after
they had thrown
him in the
truck bed and
shot gravel
all the way
towards ladora
this poem is
for that laugh
chasing behind
the train
again tonight
Avery Gregurich is a writer living and working in Marengo, Iowa. He was raised next to the Mississippi River, and has never strayed too far from it.
