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Trailblazer 

JOSEPH FARLEY
-- For Kenneth Koch

1.

Trail blazers
cut down the trees
and make a path
that leads somewhere,
but not necessarily
where they were
trying to go.


2.


Others followed,
built cities
in the wilderness.


3.

What path is this
I have set upon?
What path is this
that you have followed?


4.

Afterwards,
some people
missed the trees.


5.

Some people
haven't noticed
the trees
are missing.


6.

It all ends the same.
That's nothing new.
All roads lead to Rome.
All poetry obscures
   the obvious,
or makes it more so.

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