where’s carolina?

east of childhood, north of
                     capitol offenses, just west
       of a big blue treasure chest :
                            wet coffin of neglected bones.
              in the veins, unnoticed as
a pulse. at a counter : sitting in
       varicolored eloquence. behind
                            the mystery of the magnet. home
              of horton, poetry’s bondsman :
                     between anger and awe. below
the line, overrated, underestimated.
                     helms territory : within a belt,
       an expanding waste. atop hades :
                            persephone’s threshold. beside
cloud-hooded mountains.
              outside time : a coltrane solo.
                            far from fatal. after all.