Art: Paul Theriault, Ever New (detail), 2022, acrylic and found paper on scavenged wood
12 Lines After Leadbelly
Moaning is the minute
between dusk and dark, the first stars,
barely a breeze, a dead
armadillo drying by the road,
the day’s cotton picked,
a blood-blistered finger,
a blind man
led across town by thirst,
one side of the bed
still empty, a silhouette
slipping out the back door
as blue goes black.