There’s No Going Back

So of course I went back
anyway. But it wasn’t there anymore.
Sand Canyon (where a couple of scruffy
9th graders got off the late
school bus) no longer exists.
The nearest I can figure,
it’s been terraced for a gated-
community called WesterWinds.

The Ridge Highway (where I used to
stare out the dark window
at the very-same-star) is still there
but it’s been re-routed and speed-
engineered.

Nothing is left:

not the dry arroyos nor the shack
where neighbors nourished their kids
on strawberry soda,

and those kids grew away
and are probably driving SUVs now
even if they weren’t brought up
healthy, according to
my parents

who are dead.

Taylor Graham: Coal City Review editor Brian Daldorph calls this poet " a meticulous wordsmith, writing often of her experiences as a rescue dog handler. Every word of each poem is carefully considered, and yet there is fluency and grace to her poems that sometimes seem like the mysterious language of bird tracks in the snow. Taylor helps us to remember our links with the natural world." Graham has published four collections, including Casualties ( Coal City Review) and Looking for Lost ( Hot Pepper Press), as well as poems in myriad publications. She is also on the editorial board of The Acorn, a regional literary journal focussing on the western Sierra. ("Ten Poets to Watch", Writer's Digest April 2000)

Email: Taylor Graham

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