The heavy plastic pipe,
corrugated (don’t you love that word?),
black with a blue stripe,
pipe under the gravel road,
pipe where my dog’s eager muzzle
just fits
if I got down on my knees
and pressed my face to the hole,
would I know?
I know there are worlds under this world,
worlds where the darkling beetles
skitter and hide.
I go there at night to try out being dead.
Penelope Scambly Schott’s most recent books are WAVING FLY SWATTERS AT ANGELS and gOD: A RESPECTFULLY DIVERGENT TESTAMENT. She is a past recipient of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry
