Here you will find thePoemAmerican Sketchesof poet Donald Justice
CROSSING KANSAS BY TRAIN The telephone poles Have been holding their Arms out A long time now To birds That will not Settle there But pass with Strange cawings Westward to Where dark trees Gather about a Water hole this Is Kansas the Mountains start here Just behind The closed eyes Of a farmer?s Sons asleep In their work clothes POEM TO BE READ AT 3 A.M. Excepting the diner On the outskirts The town of Ladora At 3 A.M. Was dark but For my headlights And up in One second-story room A single light Where someone Was sick or Perhaps reading As I drove past At seventy Not thinking This poem Is for whoever Had the light on
