Wyoming

By Wyoming, there were long shadows
and a steady driving wind, the kind
that permanently bends trees
changes the ways the
locals go about their chores, and days, and fills your
hair with grit, right down to the roots. I'm grateful though
for Wyoming
and all the other states in between us
Once we decided
we were through
I felt better being able to look through
my old Rand McNally
and know Wyoming
and its ill wind
and Idaho
with its undistinguished anything
and Michigan
with its empty lots, full of weeds, broken glass, and
rusty things
were strung together like ugly beads on a cheap elastic
interstate thread
a buffering bracelet
I could snap
to wake back up, if I started to drift, go hazy
thinking about the long shadows
we made
in Wyoming
where we stood side by side
watching the cattle cars roll by on the tracks
your arm around me
my face in your chest
that wind
drawing tears from our eyes
when I said goodbye to you
and you to me
to our failures, and hurts, and stunted dreams
there's a whole country
between us now
Wyoming
is intangible
wind
and shadows
the map says
its so
and its just as well.