Black Ice on the Bridge

Acts have no meaning, but they do have
trajectory: the string quartet waxes
the mustaches of its accusers

Innocence has no meaning, but it does have
motive: when the lamprey pond overflows
the pole beans will require stanchions

Appetite has no meaning, but it does have
velocity: the last handful of anthracite coal
is smelted in view of the opium museum

Marriage has no meaning, but it does have
pedigree: the box turtle in the intersection
tries, as the twilight worsens, to back up

Mystery has no meaning, but it does have
gristle: fog spreads across the mustard grass
with no regard for the black ice on the bridge

Bill Yarrow is the author of Pointed Sentences (BlazeVOX, 2012). His poems have appeared in many print and online magazines including PANK, Poetry International, DIAGRAM, and THRUSH. His work is forthcoming in Many Mountains Moving, After Hours, and RHINO. He is a poetry editor at THIS Literary Magazine. He lives in Illinois.

(This poem originally appeared in Negative Suck and also appears in Pointed Sentences (BlazeVOX 2012).