Richard Peabody

Bobby Vinton Boulevard

You can’t tell the difference
between the route numbers
and the speed limit.

Because every highway
in Houston, Texas
is a runaway truck ramp

where needlepoint queens
shake snow globes.

“Jangle Jingle
let’s mingle.”

A one-way ticket
to Biscuitville.

Riding Red Horses with Susan Rothenberg

Artist of wind

Desert her compass
eyelash drooping

for Cochise

As necessary and
ephemeral as that

I have no name

but try to keep up
with Susan’s scarlet horse

when it steps into a river
and floats

The Show Me State

A walk
through

Gabor Szabo’s
dreams.

A flock of tombstones.

Banana Republicans.

Whirlwind
in the distance.

Escaped
Ferris Wheel

rolling past

“Rent Me”
billboards

on a ghostly
Interstate.

Richard Peabody is a French toast addict and native Washingtonian. His new book of poetry, Guinness on the Quay, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2019.
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About Posit Editor

Susan Lewis (susanlewis.net) is the Editor-in-chief and founder of Posit (positjournal.com) and the author of ten books and chapbooks, including Zoom (winner of the Washington Prize), Heisenberg's Salon, This Visit, and State of the Union. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies such as Walkers in the City (Rain Taxi), They Said (Black Lawrence Press), and Resist Much, Obey Little (Dispatches/Spuyten Duyvil), as well as in journals such as Agni, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Conjunctions online, Diode, Interim, New American Writing, and VOLT.