cold blue sky over open road ahead
crisp autumn coming to an end;
sun checks out early now
winter my friend, it will be good to see you!
I’ll pick you up at airport
but today is be a cracking fall day
a day for throwing around the football
or raking helpless leaves into submission
leaves that desperately held on with their little hands
to life as long as they could
but have now fallen like british empire dominoes
I pass cornfields, silos, barbed fence, cows
farmhouses with families I know nothing about
but envy their chicken and noodles lives anyway
motor growls and wheels whine
cracked yellow and white paint
that have seen hundreds of thousands
of cars and pick-up trucks and semi trucks
motorhomes and bedraggled hitchhikers
and motorcycles like mine — roll down this road
slumped, heaving and gravel pounded
I come upon railroad tracks
pull off on the soft shoulders
wait for the 3:30
around 430, I hear the horn
train arriving fashionably late of course
engineer gives me a wave;
maybe wishing he was on a motorcycle
I wave back of course wish I was driving the train
guess I’ll go home and throw a pork steak on the grill
salt, pepper, bbq sauce — fry some potatoes
watch the boats with their red and green heterochromia eyes
putt putt by on the river dark and deeply wet
