A work in progress...
“untitled”

we have all run away:
from the law in St. Louis to a new name
in the Louisiana bayou;
from the farm to metropoles and military tours
in every war of the 20th Century.

we have all run away:
great-grandpa’s steed; grandpa’s bootleg-mobile;
grandmas from their fathers’ homes,
but never from their children, who could not bear to stay;
shotgun houses turned to kindling

when they ran away:
tired of always running; generations running on empty,
in place, in circles, out of breath;
almost run-down. always running into walls they could feel,
but not touch.