Driving North*
I cry over dishes, laundry
Spilt milk...beer...bourbon
A flipped plate of left-overs
The cup of coffee I forgot
On top of the Cherokee
I agonize over words
Typed, said and unsaid
To people I don’t even know
And family I know too well
Life in Hell, is what it is
Someday I’ll just drive
North, I think, Toledo, Detroit
Flint, on up to Mackinac,
Never looking back to see
Who, if anyone, is following
I’ll find a quiet spit of beach
State park, most likely
Strip and with my Mother
Commune one last time
Then spin the loaded wheel
*based on a dream I had a number of years ago.
A Magpie Tale. To read more, click here!
hugs my friend... nice take on the prompt. full of underlying emotions...
ReplyDeleteJJRod'z
just loved this..the words..the pace the images you created and the bits that seem left untold..
ReplyDeleteCan't imagine what inspired that dream .. glad you had it!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat poem. I like the desperate conclusion and the way the spill/flip/flint/strip/spit push forward toward the final spin.
ReplyDeleteWonderfully done, glad your dream drove you to it.
ReplyDeleteKay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
Dare I say, this is a dream of a poem.
ReplyDeleteThere is something dreamlike and magical about this..very intense..really like it a lot1
ReplyDeletespin the loaded wheel is rather ominous...but this certainly sounds like the way mine might go...one day...one last road trip...
ReplyDeleteTroubling dream...glad it is only that...
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. Excellent write.
ReplyDeleteLoved this.
ReplyDeleteWow.
:)
a great poem - with an underlying darkness to it
ReplyDeleteVery troubling... glad it was a dream! Northern MI is lovely... lived in Petoskey for a long time... When I wanted to get away, I had about a 10 minute walk... :)
ReplyDeletePowerful piece - glad it was just a dream.
ReplyDeleteWow...very vivid and perfect for the prompt. Felt like I was on that road along for the ride.
ReplyDeleteThank you, friends! I am glad it was only a dream, too (smiles). It was a bad dream, as dark as it gets. I wasn't going to write a Magpie this week...too beaten down. Loved the prompt and what Tess did with it (oh my!), was sorting laundry, and this came to me, almost full-blown. Just had to review my Michigan geography (we live in southwestern Ohio), and there you go. Again, thank you for your kind words!
ReplyDelete~ Michael
up north the air might make a change ...
ReplyDeletegreat piece
That sounds like a lovely drive to a lovely place!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Arnab Majumdar on SribbleFest.com
Dark as pitch, Doc,
ReplyDeletebut lively, even wistful,
for a road trip, even in
a dream is poetic, even
literary, a blue collar adventure,
and so thanks for using us
as therapy, and taking us
along on your dream poetic.
"Escape" was written all over this image and you have brought it out very well in your fine poem!
ReplyDeleteExcellent. Best not to follow dreams too closely, though!
ReplyDeleteThanks Glenn! I'll get over that way to see what you're up to. Ha! Yes, Dave, some dreams are not meant to be lived. This was a dream I will happily not follow too closely. As Margaret said, northern Michigan is lovely. I would like to drive up there sometime...and drive back, thank you very much :-)
ReplyDeletecry over dishes, agonize over words,
ReplyDeletetime spin the loaded wheel,
heavy lines, dramatic and emotional, love the taste of it.
I think the lure to just 'get up and go' strikes most people at one time or another.
ReplyDelete