An Existential Beer

    by Ted Guhl

    Long grasses chuff
    against the rough fabric of my pants.
    I take off my hat;
    my hands clasp its rim like two motionless moons.
    I am looking out into cavernous space at the stars.

    I lower my eyes:
    through the cathedral hollows
    amidst the row of pines at the field’s edge
    I observe the manicured lawn of a golf course;
    beyond - housing projects swell abruptly,
    intensely square mushrooms whose mycelia feed upon
    the corruption of a dying wilderness.

    I look back up -
    the night is a cavity within me.

    John and Moses had God on their side.

    I turn, sluggishly,
    and walk back into the house
    wipe my feet at the back door
    go into the kitchen, and empty a can of beer.

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