Take a trip with me
through the towns in Missouri.
Feel naming in all its joy
as we go through Braggadocio, Barks, Kidder, Fair Play,
Bourbon, Bean Lake
and Loose Creek.
If we should get lost
we could spend the night at
Lutesville, Brinktown, Excello, Nodaway,
Humansville or Kinderpost.
If we like Bachelor we could bypass
with only slight compunction
another interesting place,
Conception Junction.
I think you would feel instant intimacy
with all the little flaws
of an Elmer, Esther, Ethel, Oscar or Archie,
all the quirky ways
of a Eunice or a Bernice,
at home in a
Hattie or even an Amazonia.
I’d enjoy, wouldn’t you, saying that I came from
Chloride or Map or Boss or Turtle
or Arab or Chamois or Huzzah or Drum.
Surely the whole world loves the lover of men
who calls a tiny gathering
in midwest America
Paris, Carthage or Alexandria,
Odessa, Cairo, Arcadia or Milan,
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