What makes you cry?

A cold and lonely road at night,

or a dead possum, or

a vicious National Geographic

magazine paper cut?

Sometimes it seems like ice

on a highway will be the last word

in danger, but sometimes

it feels like a high school

heartbreak can wreck

harder than any car.

Long-fronded cactuses

sit in West Texas

like plants made of swords,

and hurtful words

hide even in churches,

but right now the worst

of the Great Plains

is what isn't there.