Thinking About Arkansas

There will be hill country,

The ribbon of highway rising and falling upon it.

Trees to the right and left,

Then a house, then a service station

With convenience store attached,

Then a little town,

Its civic pride well concealed from folks like me,

The town shows its disdain for the world

By tolerating abandoned cars

Rotting in overgrown lots. 

Then there will be lakes, wildflowers, vistas, and

Signs will announce strange places and distance:

Lufkin 23, Rathbone 6, Onion City 15, Jack 18.

There will be hill country,

We will ride upon the highway ribbon,

Arriving at our lakeside cabin

Just in time to erase the memory

Of abandoned cars in  overgrown lots.

--October 14, 2013