Justin Evans

Inventory

When the moon rises up above Three Sisters Mountain
like a worn silver dollar, you can almost
believe it has risen just for you—that the earth’s
rotation and axis are meaningless. The moon is yours
alone in the dark of night to be carried like
a lantern to light the past while you wander
your childhood haunts. There is one road into
the town where you grew up, one path leading
to the house where you were raised. Choice is
an illusion you know when you look to the trees
still towering above you as you look
to the cardinal points that defined your world
decades ago. You have returned again
and again trying to find the roots of your life
everyone talks about, but all you have found
are shadows and more questions. All you know
can be summed up in the things you have:
One road, one moon, one brief recurring dream.

Justin Evans was born and raised in Utah. He served in the Army and went to Utah and Nevada universities for his education. He lives with his wife and sons in rural Nevada, where he teaches high school. He is the author of four chapbooks and six full-length collections of poetry His most recent books are Cross Country (Wordtech Editions, 2019) written with the poet Jeff Newberry, and All the Brilliant Ideas I've Ever Had (Aldrich Books, 2020). He has poetry forthcoming in Sugar House Review. In 2022 he was granted an Artist Fellowship from the Nevada Arts Council.