stones rise in a celestial planchette
pointing to no & yes

there is no marble lady
to gaze with tenderness over the city

the auto shop
the warehouse

the parole office where ex-cons wait
smoking long cigarettes in the cold

I am happy to be here now not there
in the absence & omnipresence

I keep my distance
a man like me I hold out while I canAce Boggess is the author of two books of poetry: The Prisoners (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2014) and The Beautiful Girl Whose Wish Was Not Fulfilled (Highwire Press, 2003). His novel, A Song Without a Melody, is forthcoming from Hyperborea Publishing. His writing has appeared in Harvard Review, Mid-American Review, RATTLE, River Styx, North Dakota Quarterly and many other journals. He lives in Charleston, West Virginia.