The Right Column


At three AM
in the light
of the highway
signs
in the rain
and splatter
on the road 
and the patter
of droplets
on the car
I slept
in the seat 
until 6AM.
no one bothered me.

If I drive
till I forget
my cares
and reach that
bliss
it's worth
the cost
of gas and
the wasted 
hours
with the
highway
signs
rolling by
and giant trucks
forcing
me into
the easy-pass lane
at 6:30
at the end of the NJ 
turnpike.

The Saw Mill Parkway
going north
at 7:30
is clear
and I see a 
wallet
on the road
and I turn around
to see if
it really is
going 
retrograde
back three exits
near the
Reader's Digest
complex
somewhere in
suburban
New York.

Ah, there's a
shoe,
the same shoe
that I wondered about
the day before
driving south.
And I wondered
how does a
100 dollar
shoe
end up on
the highway
like that?

I remember
Salem Willows
1989
Memorial day.
A shoe
on the beach
and a little girl
picking it
up and saying
'somebody
lost
a shoe'.

I wrote stories
for each time
that I saw
a random
lost shoe.

Barefeet
on the peebles
at Bash Bish Falls
in the early evening.
Where did I leave
my shoes?

If you go
to Delaware
you can 
breath
the jello air
and
play your 
chello
there
if you choose to
stop and stair
if you go
to 
Delaware.


4 September 2008