Men who die in cars
       

It is all that I care for and it will not use me.
It is not to be shrugged off
so lightly. He went down in a fire of his own making
and if I could have stopped him I would have stopped him
or that could just be something I say to hide
what I really think which is that I don't know
what I really think and that too

that too
is a lie.

If I could have stopped him I would not have stopped him.
I would have waited instead for the moment of impact
then cascaded down a heelworn stairway of stories,
each step a necessary murder, and told them all
what they wanted to hear, which is that it is not
their fault, that it could not be helped, and no man
would understand this better than myself
and me

I understand
nothing.

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Copyright © 2019 Paul Kingsnorth All rights reserved
from Songs from the Blue River
Salmon Poetry
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission