rearview mirror:
flashing taillights glinting across gullies, agape
to swallow the mid-downpour wetness of black concrete
and salted tears dripping between fists, clenched
on the shuddering, beaten steering wheel. skeleton body rattling
from behind the rumbling engine as it learns the hungry city heartbeat,
spitting dream after dream through exhaust pipes
and open windows, chasing down every last drop
of the distant midnight wilderness.