Coming & Going

by Elaine Sexton

for John Kalish

You know how to write
directions. I see what's exposed
in the way you want to
get me there. Coming
and going. Each time I turn
the right way, just where you say,
"turn," where pumps
in the oil fields crank
but I don't hear their churning.
I listen to NPR on the air
and my windows are up
in the rental car. Coming
I am so anxious. Every sign
has to be Los Feliz Boulevard
but isn't. I can't wait
to see you so much
I miss the road, clearly marked.
The one thing I didn't
write down, thinking I know
where you live by heart.

Elaine Sexton's poems have recently appeared in American Poetry Review, Hubbub, New Letters, Prairie Schooner, and Frigate. Her collection of poems, Sleuth, is currently a finalist in three competitions. Ms. Sexton holds an MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College and lives in New York City, where she works in magazine publishing.