Three Christmas Cards from the Midwest
Oh, distance has no way
of making love understandable.
– Jeff Tweedy
I.
The map on the TV news
shows the front pushing
now to the East Coast: a wave
of digits washing away
a thousand miles of geography.
II.
Gifts unwrapped
sit ranged on the desk
like artifacts unburied.
III.
Later, lovers weep separately
in the same car; the windshield
wipers are useless.
She comes
to him in the morning where
he sleeps, shivers against him
until his shivers subside, and is
gone. She will not wrap
the others.
Lucas Jacob’s work has appeared in a few dozen journals, including Southwest Review, Evansville Review, and Barrow Street, and is currently forthcoming in various others. He teaches writing to high school students and runs workshops and reading events for young writers.
Portage Magazine 
