Sunday, August 25, 2013

Passing Place




Pass through town 
where traffic lights change
without traffic 
to single-lane outside the muddy bay.

Drive gently beside me,
sand in your hair, like in your dream 
hoisting from water to headland
can be messy.

Pull forward to a passing spot,
beyond the guardrail.
Raise a one-finger salute 
then press, to lip-read my intentions.

Disregard the carefully folded map.
Pray to your own hand 
my America my new-found land.
You know the way.


tk/August 2013 


Thanks to R.A.D. Stainforth for momentarily stepping out of his black and white world to read this poem.


photo by Steven Kelly 
 Join MagpieTales creative writing group. 

31 comments:

  1. Excellent feel! Very Kerouac! And very Kincaid! Awesome!

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  2. smooth and out of the box delivery for individual thought processes. Good job.

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  3. Love it. Very American with the one-finger salute, ha ha.

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  4. some amazing imagery and concept here.. loved it.

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  5. The traffic lights continue their sequence, blind to traffic or lack of it.

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  6. ah yes memorable road trips with stops along the way! Lovely Tess~!

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  7. Traffic lights change without traffic. So often the case these days...

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  8. Hate when my scooter is only one at light, and does not trigger a light-change. So driverless cross street keeps its green light...on and on.

    Messy? Were you pulling a boat from the sea up the cliff?

    You always have interesting "take" on these Tess. But you have a head start, yesss?

    Take care, poet-girl!

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    1. Or a car from the water...yesss...I do have a bit of a head start...I'm allowed...giggle...always good to see you at Magpie Steve...

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  9. Hate when my scooter is only one at light, and does not trigger a light-change. So driverless cross street keeps its green light...on and on.

    Messy? Were you pulling a boat from the sea up the cliff?

    You always have interesting "take" on these Tess. But you have a head start, yesss?

    Take care, poet-girl!

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  10. indeed good imagery.....thanks Tess

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  11. There are few things I love more than a memorable road trip :)

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  12. all for throwing the map away and seeing what happens.....fab read as always..x

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  13. I'm all for disregarding maps...

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  14. Traffic lights somehow are always green for others when one is waiting! Frequently there are no traffic but oneself. Nicely Tess!

    Hank

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  15. Happy happy memories of the road trips I've taken .. that all of us take in one form or another. :-)

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  16. I love Ronaldo's reading of that last line!

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  17. Love and risk do seem to go hand in hand....love this Tess! :-)

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  18. Excellent poem...I was with him all through the journey...

    cries inside the mind

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  19. Wonderful layers...dream/ reality ...a good trip!

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  20. A lovely poem, Tess, and some wonderful imagery.

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  21. Ah, those auto-timed lights, there can be no one around for miles, yet they always seem to turn red when you approach them! The best trips are the ones sans map, just point the car and go. Nicely captured,Tess.

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  22. Pleasing and patriotic! Liked the swing to it!

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  23. disregard the carefully folded map..enjoy the journey..always nice to hear the reading

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  24. I'm all for mystery drives & throwing away the maps. It adds to the anticipation and excitement of what lays ahead. Wonderful write Tess, as always!

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  25. Risky road trip, sounds promising!

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  26. Thank you, dear friends, for taking the time to read/watch/listen...and for your lovely comments.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)