Looking east over Lawrence at 2 AM

Chills traverse my shoulder blades

visibly jolting my whole torso

 

Points of light jealously pull at my gaze

But not the ones that live and die in violence:

   It’s cloudy tonight; I heard thunder earlier

 

These are fluorescent pinpricks

Signs of life on a field sable

 

Despite their effort, the wind has made a better spectacle

and wins my attention.

 

Last November I said

I’m thankful for the night train

I meant it then

And I feel it now

 

Each year my dad records which night

the peepers start their evening calls

They’re croaking now but they don’t care

that I’m wondering about them

 

My sister and I always say

“It don’t take much.” I know it’s true

I’d love to be ten stories high

But two is enough perspective

 

I’m facing due east; I wonder

Is anybody looking back?

A little farther down the line?

The lonesome whistle gives its final benediction

 

 

Looking west over Centralia at sunset

 

Turning left onto gravel, tires hesitate

then bite into familiar ruts

and send white clouds swirling high

in November air

 

I fly past yellow windows who must think I’m chasing the sun

I’m driving west, but seeking the past

and I stop when I find it where I left it

 

It hasn’t changed but still I return

 

A place at the edge of Boone county

where rows of streetlights pierce the trees

and darkened fields offer a comfort so simple it’s profound

 

I accelerate back to 1000 miles an hour when I see headlights

and release the brake to find I never put the car in park

 

 

 

Beth Heimann grew up in rural Missouri, laughing with her sisters and staring at the night sky. She loves to read, write, and revel, and does all three while studying English and Classics at the University of Kansas. 

 

Notes

  • “on a field sable” in line 7 of “Looking east over Lawrence at 2 AM” is from the final line of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
  • “A little farther down the line” and “lonesome whistle” in the final two lines of the same are taken from “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash.
  • “November air,” seen in line 4 of “Looking west over Centralia at sunset” is taken from the so-titled Zach Bryan song.