The Scavenger Poem by Ben Partenay

where you are is out in the wild
with the horses and the wind’s
blowing strong I know because
you’ve told me, that it is not

always the way the wind blows
but how it blows and to where
and it’s west today, you are on
the far side of the Mississippi

there are miles and miles of heart-
beats in between us, cities full of
them, beating away the dust of the
earth, place your ear to the ground

you can hear them and the secrets
of the earth are in there with the
worms the birds pick off the side-
walk after a rain,

dig far enough
you will find a black box wrapped
in an old flannel coat, my hearts
in there and getting colder.