Side roads took me where
I had not meant to go.

My night was a kitchen table
Cleared of mealtime plates,
Stacks of books to be read.

There can be no uplift
Without screams and torment
The roar of conflict or long,
Slow sit-down with demons.

ANGELO VERGA has been published in more than 100 poetry outlets and has been widely anthologized and translated. His seventh book is a new & selected volume, Long & Short, including The Street in Your Head (2016). He was an owner of The Cornelia Street Café, where his programs (1997-2015) created a home for poets & audiences in New York City.