a new poem for you all my friends... :)

The Road
after Naomi Shihab Nye’s ‘Kansas’

We close the atlas, follow
the sunset across Kansas
and reminisce about childhood, puppy
love, regret—don’t mention
yesterday, when you left him
at the altar, begged me to go
with you, turned our talk westward.

Two cups of coffee, black,
at an all night diner, and back on
the road our cigarettes
glow midnight. We’ve got mountains
to see in the morning baby, but this
is the flattest night in the world,
and yesterday’s city still flickers
in the rearview mirror.

When dawn breaks, you pull over,
turn up the radio and lean
forehead on the wheel, sing
so the odometer vibrates. You
don’t know where you’re going,
but we know this song. I sing harmony,
turn the key to idle. We roll down
windows and climb onto your car roof,red, 1988, stick shift.