From Massachusetts to Colorado

In contrast,

Colorado Springs

always had the instinct

to swallow me whole,

regardless of how hard I tried,

and I lived there

longer than anywhere else

except home

and now here in Tampa,

so this is from considerable experience,

not vague transitory impression

or transient reductionism.

I went there with hope,

where hope would spring eternal,

and maybe it was disappointment

that defined the outcome.

...Then again,

I never did appreciate

just how many bookstores

there were there.

Perhaps

my vagaries

are a purgatory.