Alton Bridge (1965)

// Dan Jacoby

ancient wooden bridge
just at the bend below alton
only way for miles
goes on for over a mile
shuddered at those
two narrow new deal lanes
tight as a hat band
no room for roadside shrines
in the company of oncoming traffic
ghost sternwheelers, rusted dredges
and wild cat bayou oil derricks
rather a road kill mummy
than over the escarpment
to big muddy like a dead gar
and those grand locks
with memories as deep as graves
both the beginning and end
waiting for the magical tour
sky pilot infused mysticism
a bell buoy life
shifting on its’ moorings
unwinding into me
as if God existed — only
where there was trouble