Civilization as We Know It

Walmart, civilization as we know it, is an hour away, in Newport,

down country roads, 15 and 23 and 7, southward to the highway

taking us away and beyond, to other places, other dreams,

but slowing now for tiny towns staying alive,

their names unrecognizable to most, Sangerville and Dexter and

Corinna, unrecognizable even to Mainers living further south

in the bigger cities, cosmopolitan centers of industry

and commerce, self-contained cities we northerners but visit,

occasional trips, rare outings for what we can’t get here,

inland, up north, small town life, rural centers where we live,

where what we need is readily available, within a comfortable

distance traveling, these tiny towns dotting a larger map

but slow-downs, really, slowing down to pass through

on our way to someplace else, to Walmart, an hour away,

southward to the highway; but what we can’t buy,

not on sale at Walmart, even, or anywhere else,

even locally, within a comfortable distance traveling,

what we can’t buy are the dreams we hold, of other places,

larger places, beyond what we have here, beyond the small town,

nor can we buy the joys of living here, this simple life,

our dreams and hopes intact, in Abbot and Monson, Shirley

and on to Greenville’s lake, small-town Maine,

an hour away, civilization as we know it

but an hour from Walmart, southward to the highway

taking us away and beyond and bringing us home.