A Gathering of Transits

Wendover, NV

Church busses shoot toward the prophet. Pilgrims

Pile rocks along the interstate.

Behind the liquor store, salt

Spreads like cocaine, the earth’s bend

Visible in wide white.

After Utah, Saturday is a whole state

Waxing silver in daylight—

Casino buffets, David Allen Coe

In a gas station of the new millennium.

The anthem here is idling motors,

The crescendo of gears splitting east and west

Like cigarettes and ice cream,

Like winter burning through the nose.