Kevin Browne


              Hannibal morning

There must be something slightly off in the
earth’s magnetic field or a momentary
crack between the worlds this morning.
I try to buy something in a store
but the owner is shaking and crying
and says she just fell down outside.
At the shop next door a lady is manically 
beating the awnings in front of her place 
to get rid of mayflies, so we move on. 
Then a man pulls up in an old Packard but
abandons it in favor of a white pickup
across the street and drives off.
Then, as if the point isn’t clear enough,
a couple drives up with an upside-down
old cowboy bathtub in their truck 
reading “Hot baths 10 cents”…
Time to put some distance between
ourselves and this rent in the fabric.

Kevin Browne is an anthropologist, writer, and photographer. He formerly lived in Indonesia and currently resides in Wisconsin. His work has appeared in numerous literary and social science journals.

 
 

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