Outskirts

    Men in overalls¹ the same color as earth rise from a ditch.

    It's a transitional place， in stalemate， neither country nor city.

    Construction cranes on the horizon want to take the big leap，

    but the clocks are against it.

    Concrete piping scattered² around laps at the light with cold tongues.

    Auto-body shops occupy old barns.

    Stones throw shadows as sharp as objects on the moon surface.

    And these sites keep on getting bigger

    like the land bought with Judas' silver： "a potter's field for burying strangers."