“Driving I-24 Through Kentucky at Night, I Think How Easy It Would Be”
Book excerpt: Visibility at Zero
Driving I-24 Through Kentucky at Night, I Think How Easy It Would Be
Miles and miles of frayed ribbon,
graveyard, shoelace, skinny tie.
Index finger twelve to six,
all it would take
to flatten ditch weeds,
cornstalks, peel the car’s body
with a tree trunk.
The night will hack you
from its throat, easy enough.
And face it, the dog at home
would wait curled on the doormat
only so long, and there would be
a spark of relief somewhere deep
inside your lover. The silence
would be tremendous.
Field on field cut with latticed vein,
zipper, cello string, patched quilt.
They would stake a roadside cross,
garland it with wildflowers.
Folks would pass.
Nobody would think to forgive you.
Copyright (c) 2017 by Austin Kodra. All rights reserved. Visibility at Zero is Kodra’s first full-length poetry collection. He received his M.F.A. from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, where he served as an editorial assistant for Crab Orchard Review. His poetry and fiction have been published in The Adroit Journal, Superstition Review, Valparaiso Fiction Review, and elsewhere. Kodra lives in Knoxville, where he works with student-athletes as an academic mentor.
