Matthew Gustafson

Poem from the Edge of Things

The churches are empty
on the plains tonight. 

A cold wind rides
up the coasts, shivers 

the click beetles
into the hollow air. 

A daggered moon
pierces the horizon 

and the whole world
banks on dark. 

There was a god
I held together once, 

the way the wind
holds thick hair, 

but that’s all long since
been unmade. 

By now, I should have
long since been unmade, 

but I’m still here, held
in the wind. 

Those churches are,
too.

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Matthew Gustafson is a graduate of Lafayette College and a current student at Stony Brook University’s MFA program in Creative Writing and Literature. He has been published in Long River Review and is hoping to get out of this cafe before he becomes part of the decor.