Travel Brochure

by David Wyatt

The power structure has a sore tooth, an enflamed elbow,
A weal under its eye — annoying as hell, it had been reported
In the World–Herald. So good to hear, however,
That institutions suffer also, in a real sense. This doesn’t stop
My nose from bleeding or my chest aching, a tree falling
Against the house, which will provide good wood
For the fireplace when my wife someday learns to use a chainsaw.
I have an enormous instruction book and a hundred sturdy
Candles to read it by, before winter. But we were talking about
The world at large and, perhaps now, the sinking of Nebraska
Under the weight of its cattle population. I see no ready ties
To socialism yet it seems possible there may be some affect
On the one steakhouse, the only standing building, in Monowi.
I read Lincoln for his axe–throwing proclivities —
Which he possibly still shares with Kentuckians, through
A medium — but I drive to Lincoln for the Rabbit Hole Bakery.
I know, it sounds too easy. I remember the warning the poet
Has given: “Old men with hernias are writing now
In the trembling world of the pre–nursing–home malaise.”
Therefore, I welcome any response to the above stupefaction.
Yes, it has been a miracle I got as far as Omaha. You could say
I have the foggiest view of the Mighty Mo, if that hamstring
Ever relaxes.