Elegy to a Roadtrip

gus stills

Red flares like the veins in stoned eyes,
Blurred in the rain & the weakened curve of headlights.

Slanted against the shoulder, the ambulance’s lights
Don’t hint at the cold silence of the engine.

A medic pulls his hood over his face & turns against
The wind to light a cigarette, waiting.

A semi has parked across the left lane like a sentinel,
As a dog splays out, lazily watching its owner.

A moment like countless others, really, like the punctuation of
Past trips, the parenthetical notation of miles traveled,

Silencing tired banter. A European van whose roof slopes to the same
Angle as its hood, upside down, its frame spread like the tendrils of a spider web,

Coupled in twisted mockery against a crumpled sedan.

& the flares burn out to leave only the glow of the ambulance,
Spinning in that moment eternally to the eyes of the truck driver

Parked to block the passage of traffic, & the wind that crashes into the
Soft edges of the cigarette’s quickened burning.

catefrances

i just got back last night from a short roadtrip. it took us 14 hours to get there on thursday and 12 hours to get home yesterday.


thanks for the elegy.

Perceptual

It's good to see some powerful imagery... no offense to everyone but I'm getting sick of poems and songs etc that start off with 'why did she have to leave' and 'I'm hurting now so much without you' etc.
Thank you so much for this new and fresh creation, friend.

gus stills

thanks, i appreciate the kind words.