I refuse to settle
out of the true
choose to communicate
through pay phones and paper
out here in the country of McAllister & Steiner
we are the only Victorians left
& I wish I wouldn’t have said
that one something that one time
when what I really wanted
was to finish cutting the okra for the gumbo
& read Baudelaire again
his L’Invitation au Voyage
backwards reveals all of the magic
in writing that one can endure
each line out loud resounds perfect
all week I’ve been thinking about printing
a pirated book of such, nothing grand
typed on the Remington, 3x4, no address
no copyright and fifty limited
for whomever I run into
Micah Ballard
