for Ed Dorn, in England

Eddy Street in Fort Scott runs north & south
The house I grew up in faces east, the back door to the west
 
As I write this in San Francisco I sit facing west to the ocean
The plains stretch between our backs
 
I sleep with my head to the south, and there, to the north
I went east from our house to go to grade school, and then high school, south & east
 
As here the work, if there is any, is east & north
You went by various right angles to get to
 
The freeways have reverted from the 19^th century grid to the wandering path around obstacles
The main street here, Market, runs NE, SW
 
And in Fort Scott, Main Street, runs north and south
It is a ‘main street’ and a ‘city square’ town both —
 
the old square of the fort, the town grew up beyond, down Main Street —
as Market Street there runs NW, SE
 
(But ‘the square’ there, though, meant the triangle between Market, Wall & National, not the fort
Eyes in the back of the head tell me where I went there
 
It is an east-west axis —
as here they look north, the bare Marin headlands
 
But it is the angled turns that turn new vistas
On the plains you cannot even tell what you’ll hit, gone catty-corner off
 
Here    point to the unknown four corners of the state
And crossings, then? or what, simply, these roads and directions
 
carry?
.            .            .
 
 
— 21 Nov 65