How Far

Among the pines in summer,
a fragrance before the rain

At nightfall, a silence
between the boughs.

Even the insects of the high
branches are without a sound.

We are only partly dressed
as wind begins to stir

the grass around our knees.
Where is my left shoe?

How far are we from home?

Jim Tolan is author of Red Walls (Dos Madres Press). His poems have appeared in American Literary Review, Atlanta Review, Fairy Tale Review, Indiana Review, Linebreak, and Ploughshares as well as a number of anthologies, including the Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary Poetry. He is co-editor of New America: Contemporary Literature for a Changing Society (Autumn House Press).