Bearings

I took my bearings from a tattered map taped to a lamppost turned left at the inside-out umbrella propped against a dumpster & continued straight past the strip malls & the self-storage units

until I reached open ground contoured with corn stubble a crow on pond ice the blue trees of distance

I walked into the wind sleet stinging my face & shook my head at every driver who pulled alongside & gestured to get in this was where I’d been going I was looking for a reason to turn back