A Notebook Lost Near Tuscarora

by JC Alfier

 

Out where they scuttled the tracks

of the Erie Railroad

at Keshequa Creek crossing,

you’ll find the county mapped

with roads named for backsliders

and saints, for one archangel,

and a lone Redemption Street —

its lawns littered with toys,

locks changed or missing,

and a woman of indeterminate age

who will always tell you

with the toss of a glance,

Meet me elsewhere, her eyes ocean-blue,

even in the dark.