EDWARD CARUSO

Via Emilia, after the last bus

If only a smile were enough
to bring contentment,
or that gold from an Aztec
mask could be returned
centuries after being plundered.

I walk alongside traffic,
sometimes into it.
A hand from nowhere drags me back,
the highway a hum of vehicles
long passed.

Should there be
a sudden closure of this route,
it would cut through
to a point where life would be
impossible without understanding
what distance means.

Without the need to walk
indelible paths,
I would learn far less.
Roads,
possessed and interned.

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Edward Caruso has been published in Right Now, Unusual Work, La Bottega della Poesia (Italy), Mediterranean Poetry, Lite Lit One and A Voz Limpia. His second collection of poems, Blue Milonga, was published by Hybrid Publishers in January 2019. In August 2019 he featured on 3CR’s Spoken Word program.