Balm

All that rambling-man got
Backed up in my veins
Since people were following meat
And meat was running
From cold


I reach, I strive, I dream


I put pins in that wishing map
Pins in cities
Pins in mountains
The North
The tropics


One pin always in
Anywhere But Here


Then home cries out to me


I walk through these
Stillwater swamps
Spanish moss wraps
Itself round my shoulders
Frogs wink knowingly
Alligators
Whisper
Behind my back


And damn I’m in love all over again
My hair cypress needles
The back of my hand a lily pad bloom
My blood tea-colored swamp water


Mockingbird song slips into my ear
And I’m rooted in,
Red clay indistinguishable from feet
And staying is simple as
Inhaling a deep breath of humid air