Driving without Radio
One minute you’re sipping coffee at the stoplight,
and the next you find yourself six miles
down the road, wondering how you got there,
just two exits before the French bakery
and your favorite weekday breakfast taco stand.
Or while pondering the life of mud,
you almost stomp the brakes when a 40-year old
memory oozes in — two weeks before Thanksgiving,
the windshield icing over (inside), while most definitely
not watching the drive-in movie in Junction City, Kansas,
her warm sighs on your neck and ear, and the art
of opening cheap wine with a hairbrush. How many
construction barrels must one dodge to conjure these
delights, unsought and long misfiled? You turn right
on 29th Street and just for a moment think you’ve seen
an old friend, looking as he did before he died,
but better, and happier, and of course it’s just a trash bag
caught in a plum tree, waving hello, waving goodbye.
“Driving without Radio” was published at Split Rock Review in November 2016. Many thanks to editor Crystal Gibbins for providing a home for this one.
Beautifully reminds us just how much our mind wonders when we leave the silence. Especially like the part about the tree and the remembering the drive in. Sweet thoughts.
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Thank you, Joni. I find it all too easy to get lost in thoughts or daydreams while driving!
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I really liked this.
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Thank you, Craig.
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Bob, I love this one! Like you brought me with you. Thanks!
~ Clyde Long via mobile device ~
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Thank you, Brother Clyde! You’re always welcome on the ride!
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Beautiful!
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Thank you!
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I absolutely love this, Robert. it’s just the way it happens –
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It’s certainly how it happens with me!
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Automatic pilot mode – distracted by memories and forgetting the presence. Love this, you’ve described it so well and truly done this idea poetic justice.
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Thank you! I’m so pleased the poem worked for you.
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You’re welcome, it’s very cleverly done.
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