When October Comes
I know all the roads that lead into town,
Even after these years away.
The way I find them here
In the shadows of my old hopes still,
In the unexpected gifts of earlier days,
In the taste of some things left in the air
Where so much has become once.
Once we caught twelve pigmy rattlers
In and around a sandstone butte.
Once we hunted arrowheads with an old woman
Who could name all our mountains.
Once we shared a river camp with an old man
Who came west in a wagon.
I keep them in a loneliness
And in times we could never save.
I look for them in those places
That were never ours alone.
The bowling alley. The dump road. The schools.
Our private lives hid among those open doors.
What will we do, I ask, without knowing
The what or the how anymore.
Maybe this is why I ride in silence now,
During these days and mostly this way
When watching the streetlights flash
As if they could say something else
Of why we come and go, we come and go.
DAMON FALKE, a former resident of Moab, Utah, is the author of Broken Cycles, a collaboration between his poetry and the photography of Rebekah Wilkins-Pepiton, formerly of Pagosa Springs. Falke is a graduate of the University of Texas and St. John’s College-Santa Fe.
He lives in Marshall, Texas with his wife Cassie and their two sons.
To read the PDF version of this article, click here.
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I really enjoyed Damon Falke’s poem. Very good!! Thanks for including it in this issue.
A beautiful elegy and great photo. You ought to publish more of this guy.
Thanks for publishing Damon Falke’s poem. For more selections from Mr. Falke’s work, please check out his site at http://www.damonfalke.com or the Press site at http://www.shechempress.com.
Damon Falke is a gifted poet and writer savant. Please share more of his literature with us!! I happen to know he’s a pretty good angler and outdoorsman as well. Good’on’ya…
I read Damon’s poem just when it was needed. Enjoyed meeting him, interesting, talented fellow, with many stories to share. Thanks Damon.