Foothills

March of the cicadas put me to sleep
where the state maintenance ends, with the kudzu
blocking the sun from this outhouse window.
Black cows are dotting the Virginian toes.
Blue Ridge ghosts whisper their stories as gnats
in our ears (smell of our unbathed bodies),
one hand touching thunder, the other you.

John Salimbene is a writer and editor based in northern New Jersey. He is the poetry editor for Tint Journal and an editorial assistant for Map Literary. He is currently earning his MFA in creative writing at William Paterson University, where he works as a graduate/teaching assistant in the Department of English. His poems can be found in Small Orange, Voicemail Poems, the 2020 anthology, queerbook, published by Philly AIDS Thrift @ Giovanni's Room, and elsewhere.