Highway 56

First it looked like a wrapper
rippling across the asphalt,
then it rose on front paws
pulling broken hind parts
out of the westbound lane.
My God, I thought. A mile later
I turned back, but the possum was gone.
In its place the wind, blowing
into the waving shoulder grass.

Brian Builta lives in Arlington, Texas, and works at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth. His work has been published in North of Oxford, Hole in the Head Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, New Ohio Review, TriQuarterly and 2River View, among others.