CLAWING..............................................................................................................................................................HOLIDAY CAMPANELLA

Clawing

Poem by Holiday Campanella

8/19/2017 - Greensburg, Indiana

I'm surrounded by you, Indiana. You're heavy in the trees tonight. The black asphalt, back roads through corn fields, unlit— the broad shouldered men, blond and square-headed.

There are two boys hanging around the claw machine at the "Indiana-only" Pizza King. They could have been you, once. I ask them how much it is— give them a dollar. "Here," I tell them, "play." They laugh, inserting the money into the slot. They could have been ours.

My pizza is ready. "Bye," I tell the boys. "Happy birthday!" one says. "Adios," says the other.

I sit in my car in the parking lot, more me than a moment before. Tomorrow I'll be in St. Louis leaving you with them in loose metal grips, suspended.