you wake in a blanket of moss
& dead ferns, surrounded by
salmon berry bushes & abandoned
jeeps. you promise to strip bark
from here to north bend.
don’t tell me about twin peaks
i know the diner, the town,
& how many turns you take
off the exit. besides, you don’t
know our summers, & how
the sun works in july. today,
however, is overcast & there
are so many dying maple trees.
Joshua Young is the author of When the Wolves Quit (Gold Wake Press), To the Chapel of Light (Mud Luscious Press/Nephew), and most recently, The Diegesis written with Chas Hoppe (Gold Wake Press). He is the Associate Director of Poetry & Nonfiction at Columbia College Chicago. He lives in Chicago with his wife, their son, and their dog.