laid out by the insane, past hotels
that didn't last, bars that did, the tortured try
of local drivers to accelerate their lives.
Only churches are kept up. The jail
turned 70 this year. The only prisoner
is always in, not knowing what he's done.
The principal supporting business now
is rage.
excerpt from Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg by Richard Hugo, in Loitering, Charles D'Ambrosio