Satellite snapshot, August 7th, 2005, 2:15 p.m. Eye altitude: 8300 miles.
Blue-green bowl of Earth on a black galactic shelf.
Cowlicks of cloud, north and south.
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Northern hemisphere. Click. North America. Click. United States.
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Heartland. Clouds chased by Great Lakes. Grain states
smudged with sage, ochre, charcoal, enigmatic lavender.
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Illinois. Click. Chicagoland. Click. Suburbia.
County lines and highways rise as if someone
tied a tourniquet around Wisconsin.
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I-94, tollway, zeroing in on a glitter of cars.
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Silver minivan – buckle on a belt of road.
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Back seat, huddle of little leaguers,
my brother’s glove already on.
Right arrow.
Right. Right. Right.
There.
Slumped in the passenger seat,
beyond sleep. Humble ruin.
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Chest hair. Click. Scar.
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Vest of fat.
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Cage of bone.
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Red hollow,
red organ,
dam of plaque,
mash of platelets –
a multi-car pileup.