AUGUST MEN

Hot days fade early,
black breathes cool upon thin skin
as old men leave town’s comforts

to drive the canyon, narrow
road and sharp curves gone
straight in ’68, leaving legends

on slopes of scree
where the Model T coup
teetered on two wheels

in high school, you asking
where you could have died
half-century back.

This ground has not forgotten,
each rock removed exposes
another memory

of our dead history
into a landslide
of stories hidden

and turned loose on our tongues—
old men exploring
where they’ve come from.