And then they are there all of the people depressed
Into tattoos or footprints or names plastered
Or carved into wood or wall
Or breaking before the seat of a car
Behind the wave of a smile
Which is the wave of civilization
Or the crazy past they left behind,
Laughing, as if they are tracing the rotting
Roller coaster wood into those landsmen’s
Plains, the old plains of America’s darkness.

—David Lehman, “Traces”
Art Credit Winston Chmielinski

10:52 am  •  3 December 2012  •  104 notes