Keith Althaus In a corner of the shack overnight a spider has caught a wasp in its web and has begun devouring it. What becomes of the poison? This morning townspeople come and go buying their dump permits, and in between I read your second book, not rushed, but not as rich as the first: lists of plants and flowers, and anonymous winds have replaced people and their breath. An easy voice has taken over and left the hard things unsaid. Later on, when it gets really quiet I work on my own book, finished many times, my second, third, all unpublished, careful to put them away when a customer comes, then picking up again where I left off, mid-poem, mid-career, in a booth in a parking lot selling dump stickers, surrounded by the August traffic, I keep going, looking for the heart, mindful of the poison. "Poem of the Dump Sticker Salesman" is from Rival Heavens by Keith Althaus (Provincetown Arts Press). Used with the permission of the author.

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