Hour 17

At the way station

Where the trains stop

Where the buses go

Washington to Chicago

Albany to Chicago

Toledo to Detroit

Hell to Paradise

Tracing arcs and pinches

On a Midwest map--

Near the bird shit

On the vinyl bench

I sit

Knitting the minutes

In my fluorescent-lit

Stockinette stitch

[*knit 1 row; purl 1 row; 

Repeat from asterisk

Ad infinitum

-or-

Until Hell freezes over]

(Where Hell =

This flat, flat land

Running down, 

If you could see it,

To receding lakes)

Ah! There is hope then!

I see the frost.

[*knit 1 row; purl 1 row;

Repeat from asterisk]

Where the buses go

Where the trains stop

At the way station.