NONPLAYER CHARACTER IN AN OPEN-WORLD GAME

You can be anyone you want

are untrue words you want to trust.

You can do anything too, provided

it’s guard or trade or perhaps ask

a passerby to pass a message

plus find your sister’s missing silver

needle. Each day, you watch the sun

stand still all day. The weather is hotter

than chitchat can stretch, yet not too hot

to talk about while digging ruts.

Repeat that thought. Repeat that thought

a lot. You’ve heard of heroes here,

traveling somewhere more important,

less dusty. Once, you said you saw

adventure in a corner, but

it was a storage bin with nothing

inside besides your fantasies.

You’re made to follow any direction

except the lone road out of town.

Strangers baring blades like smiles

and smiles like blades appear from air

in barroom rumors. Who could sneak up

straight to your face and pickpocket

your honey wine, your coins, your change,

your choice? It must have been the wind

playing tricks on you again.

Steven D. Schroeder is the author of three books, most recently Wikipedia Apocalyptica. His second, The Royal Nonesuch, won the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award from Southern Illinois University. His poetry is recently available from Copper Nickel, Yalobusha Review, and BODY, among others. He edits the online poetry journal $ (www.poetrycurrency.com).