Montana, Periwinkle

 The bad patch of land

Is just outside

Of Montana, Periwinkle

I stepped foot on it

And my toes curled up

When the right side of the dirt

Hit the bottom

Of my sole

The bad thing

About the bad patch

Is that you keep

Coming back to it

To get that jolt

That shock

Through your jaw

That makes it clench

And leaves you

Struggling to breathe

After the first time

You tell everybody

You’re never

Going to go

To Periwinkle again

And depending on who

The person you tell is

They’ll either believe you

Or laugh in your face

If they laugh

You won’t know why

Until about a month later

When you start

Thinking about it

The cut letters

In the road signs

Leading

To the patch

The patch

That doesn’t seem

As bad

As it did before

The feeling in your jaw

That you remember being

Not as bad

As you made it out to be

Before you know it

You’re driving there

Not slow, either

Your hands tap the wheel

You can’t catch your breath

You see the road signs

You see the patch

You brake

You get out

And the minute you hit

The dirt

Your body feels

The charge

And you’re on your knees

Wondering

What took you so long

To come back

And every time

The jaw goes tight

The fingers spark

The hair on the back

Of your back

Begs you

To get back in the car

And go to where

It’s Periwinkle, Montana

And not Montana, Periwinkle

Where right is still right

And wrong is somewhere

It can’t touch you

But you’re not just

Standing on the bad patch now

You’re part of the bad patch

Your feet are deep

Your ankles crack

Your neck extends

They told you

Nothing could grow here

But what they meant was

You wouldn’t grow

You would expire

You’d get sucked in

And the dirt

And the patch

And the land

Would use you

To give itself

What it needed

To get more people there

To get the cars

And the buses

And the hitchhikers

On their way

To feel the courage

That isn’t

All that brave

You put down a foot

You put down the other

And you tell yourself

You just want to know

What it feels like

You tell yourself

You just want

A little

Of what everyone else

Is afraid of

You just want

To see

If it takes

Your breath

Away