One Way
John A. Nieves | Poetry
Lately I am not the traveler, but all that is
left of the road. I swear I remember the heat
of hands on my back, back before night air
was all. I promise soft breath on my neck moving
like the body on my body was not only a reflection
of the moon on my centerline, the stars on
my shoulders. I was a place pressed hard against
before I was just this path passed over. I have learned
how fast the weeds grow when there is nothing
in their way, how long the hours are when counting
is the closest company. I see the turn signals. I know
there are exits. But the highway never takes
them. There are worse things than conveyance, but I
have lost their names.
John A. Nieves has poems forthcoming or recently published in journals such as: Hopkins Review, Iowa Review, American Poetry Review, 32 Poems and Southern Review. A 2024 Pushcart Prize winner, he also won the Indiana Review Poetry Contest and his first book, Curio, won the Elixir Press Annual Poetry Award Judge’s Prize. He is associate professor of English at Salisbury University and an editor of The Shore Poetry.