Debris Orbits Mistakes

James Ducat

The first and most pressing 

question is the best way 

to keep going. Through, I think 

someone said, or maybe 

they said the only way through 

is forward, or perhaps the joke 

about why isn’t driveway 

called parkway. A lot of moving 

parts. I cannot say they have been rude:

debris orbits mistakes, and it is easier 

to walk away than it is to stand 

and wait for the bits to hit. 

This too-muchness 

can wash people off beaches

but I have done that. 

Never without flinching. 

I always flinch. 

Whenever one door 

closes, I hope I’m not on fire.

The same person 

laughed at my concern

to protect the folx I’ve told.

Wounds close. Or they don’t.

James Ducat’s poetry has appeared in Penn Review, Carve, Bellingham Review, CutBank, Apogee, and elsewhere. His work has also been featured on Verse Daily and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His chapbook, A Field of Nopes, was published by Bamboo Dart Press. James is a professor of English and Creative Writing at Riverside City College, where he advises the literary journal MUSE. Find him at jamesducat.com.