Dynamite

I remember the time I asked

and someone told me

what made those long parallel grooves

on the big rock walls that lined the highways

they drilled holes down into the Earth

and dropped dynamite

laying roads wherever they wanted

I thought about the blast deep beneath the surface

I thought about someone dropping and running

I thought about whoever started using longer fuses

short fuses in my experience

always cause harm

like that lit smoke bomb, Evan handed me

or the time Doug kicked my basketball down the hill

I’d like to think my fuse

has grown with time and my hair

but sometimes still

even a long fuse doesn’t help

and everything just blows up in my hands