What was country music? Country was what
Is now a college course called Doing
Nothing. No tests. Three credits and the truth.
All presence. An all-in cultural corrective.
No phones or earbuds. Just disconnect.

Another part of what it was was
Work, which is what I’m doing here
In the company van—wheeling past
Homes like super-sized Happy Meals:
Bringing this artisan bread to the exurbs.

So many root-like roads in my head, routes
I have by rote. If I were a plant,
You’d think I need repotting. But not
With this map on the dash. There is now no
Going a good long ways on the wrong path.

We’ve lost much more than needed losing
In the folds of these sheepless pastures.
Listen to me. I’m just an old chunk of coal,
Like Billy Joe. I’m gonna grow and glow
‘Til I’m so blue, pure, and perfect,

All the backroads where the country was
Before we lose the stars will lead
To this shoulder, just me, looking out at cows,
Shining like Taurus and the Pleiades. I’ll be
The twang in the silence that follows.