The author of Green Revolver (University of South Carolina Press, 2010, winner of the 2009 SC Poetry Prize), Worthy Evans grew up all over South Carolina and spent formative summers with his grandparents in Alexandria, VA, where he and his mother roamed Northern VA and Washington DC. He uses these places to set narrative and imagist poems, with distant images often juxtaposed against one another. He writes about most anything in bathrooms, airport restaurants, in truck cabs, airplanes, or wherever else. Worthy works as a communications specialist for a Medicare contractor in Columbia SC.
Columbus Day 10/10/2011
By Worthy Evans
A white truck stops
outside the house.
The driver gets out
beyond my range
of vision. I see
the door and make
the checks: the dog
is inside. The car
is paid for. It is old,
but nothing seems
to be falling off
of it. The children
are away at school.
The power is on. I paid
the water bill. Did I
pay the water bill?
I cannot remember.
My wife is at work.
She will have a day
I cannot explain.
Her day is filled
with angry people.
She didn’t speak
to me this morning.
She was running late
and had to get out fast
with the one kid
who does not take
the bus. Wait–
the truck is gone.
It must have taken
off about the time
I thought of
the water bill.
Did I pay it?
What will we say
to each other
when she gets home?
outside the house.
The driver gets out
beyond my range
of vision. I see
the door and make
the checks: the dog
is inside. The car
is paid for. It is old,
but nothing seems
to be falling off
of it. The children
are away at school.
The power is on. I paid
the water bill. Did I
pay the water bill?
I cannot remember.
My wife is at work.
She will have a day
I cannot explain.
Her day is filled
with angry people.
She didn’t speak
to me this morning.
She was running late
and had to get out fast
with the one kid
who does not take
the bus. Wait–
the truck is gone.
It must have taken
off about the time
I thought of
the water bill.
Did I pay it?
What will we say
to each other
when she gets home?
What a great name, Worthy! And a very cool poem.