WALKING DIRECTIONS
LEFT (300 feet) toward inquisition, toward house with crucifix
peeking from its shirt.
ABOVE you, sinew. On your RIGHT, beneficence. Arrow pointing 34.6 miles
to the center of a candle.
Continue STRAIGHT (5.6 miles). Along mewl. Clover & caul.
Two paths. One low. & one high. Milked from bitumen lip. Rimmed with soft.
SOUTH (15.2 miles). To the road speaking a language your fingers
cannot touch.
At your tongue, Sora’s branch. Flecked & feral. Fallen & winter.
With the breath you wrapped in your sleeve,
Continue STRAIGHT (20.8 miles). Past the children’s pool
drowned with bricks. & the spoon once raised. To your lips.
Here, indignance. & dapple. The path needled with glass. Stained by mood, by marrow.
When river, when elbow,
RIGHT, then RIGHT, then RIGHT, until the path unzips
from its seam.
William Lessard’s work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Fence, and the Southwest Review. His chapbook, instrument for distributed empathy monetization, was published by KERNPUNKT Press. He is Poetry and Hybrids editor at Heavy Feather Review. Read more of his work at: www.williamlessardwrites.net.