‘Tankful’

(& if they dare,
the system, the tangled boundary
(that has no place in what we learn as place)
deflates, at every encounter point
    --George Stanley, “Gentle Northern Summer”

 1.

The Esso owner shoots me
a scowl when I ask, ‘you 
from around here.’ He is changing
the till and thinks I might rob him. 
I consider

                 tracing the tributaries, the small
flow/large currency, where 
the caches are, the upward 
ascendancy of cash, torrents 
from the station, 5th & Central, 
to Vancouver, Calgary,
Toronto, New York, places

                                      we go to 
vacation, enjoy the amenities
(after all the fill-ups & hotel
expenses), the infrastructure
bought, at both ends,
by poor envious us

i would wish 
not to be used 

The gas plant chugs out
across the river, the local
thug & his territory—the truck
is god,
icon & driven.


 2

Back in the day,
the logs hauled by horse,
those men like the local grocer
bulldozed under by the 7-11
on 20th (the VLA lives on Mars
bars) & the power of conformity, all the

                        fast food and box stores smile,
‘give back to the community’ in charity,
overload the landfill.

If I bought in bulk, 
would knowledge be cheaper?

We send raw logs, fire them
straight out to China
(me, little, trying to 
dig there—like the trees)
& buy the kids meals
with plastic toys made in China
(the logs clog the system
in return) &

deflation occurs not at a point
of political catharsis

                            but upon the collapse,
the breaking point where nothing
is left, and we leave, get in the car
on empty.