We call
the high knob on our farm
“Nine-forty”
for it plots at that elevation
– a purely arbitrary measure
. of some element of our being.
Three years ago
our horizon sprouted its first
cell tower.
It rose
across the road from the Indian
Burial Mound at Shannon Church
where white bones mix with red
just as its white lights turn red
at dusk.
We go to Nine-forty
to breathe
to feel the force of any breeze
to count the flashing
V
E
R
T
I
C
A
L
S
grown to ten
a nice round figure
the same as our fingers
the same as our toes
the sum of what we know.
–Jim Lally,
Stick Tight Man
Accents Publishing
More from Stick Tight Man and Jim Lally:
- “Learning to Waltz”
- “GPS”
- “Stick Tight Man”
- “Old Couple”
- “Stick Tight Man: An Appreciation” by Matthew Haughton
Jim Lally is a Kentucky poet known for his curly white beard and straggly ponytail. He is a member of the Poets’ Supper, Poezia, and Holler writers’ groups as well as the founding member of Writers at Artcroft. He graduated with a degree in English from Brescia College where he was the editor of the school’s first literary magazine. Jim has been the Spoken Word artist at the Walk for the Arts in Berea for the last two years. He is a partner with his wife, Jennifer Gleason, in the organic farm business of Sunflower Sundries. His poetry ranges from the irregularly scattered to the tangle of the stranglehold.