West Onan is a river town

on a narrow bend where two states meet

and quickly brush apart

 

West Onan is a bastard

with an ancestor near enough to warrant the name

but distant enough to ignore its offspring

 

West Onan is my hometown

where my initials are raggedly carved

in the trunk of a long dead tree

 

West Onan is a river town

whose small docks miss the bounty

the other state's highways capture

 

West Onan is an orphan

since a revival movement came through

turning Onan into New Corinth

 

West Onan is my hometown

and the only thing bearing my name

are cracked stones in the tall cemetary grass

 

 

 © Gayle Force Press 2004

 

 

• Poetry