(after Ken Babstock)


This will be our 13th concession.
Another stalk-stubbled crop, 
more soil-ribbed fields. Our car 
sits alone at a four-way stop.

Patterns are a ruse.
The false bounty of rows 
of Red Bull at the 7-Eleven, 
a tarot spread of scratch & wins. 

The true crime podcast playing 
insists the signs are always there 
if we’re ready to see them. 

The scented tree swings 
in the rearview mirror 
like a charm. 

We’re getting sleepy. We miss 
our turn. The GPS voices
a mantra, rerouting us
over and over again.   

Bio

Lana Crossman

Lana Crossman is an Ottawa-based poet who grew up in rural New Brunswick. Her work has been published in Arc Poetry Magazine, Room, Untethered, Pinhole Poetry, flo., and other journals, and in her chapbooks, Pics or it didn’t happen (Pinhole Poetry Press, 2024) and Buoyant, at last (Rose Garden Press, 2022).