Recollections in (& of) the Rearview Mirror

The beat-up Chevy touted new tires Fresh rubber ready to burn on fried gravel eager to taunt geese Supplies (CDs and a map) and sustenance (saltines, sardines, and a pack of Juicy Fruit) / all plastic wrapped – in the passenger-side compartment The couple took a basket full of cheddar and rye then hit the road Both knew the levee was dry and the bank empty Neither knew enough about detox or credit blocks to care The horizon had always appeared bright – also brighter than before Time both relative and tricky Better than the processed bologna (Oscar Meyer) in the fridge and the sliced load (Wonder) in the bread box Better, too, than the nearly sour Hellman’s (hell often derivative) and the tainted golden fryer (purchased at a deep discount) Even the market had run out of milk Consumption on overdrive As the Chevy guzzled gasoline, American Pie played on the radio The right speaker stable / the left down a wire The tires made dust as destinations dangled just beyond the horizon, then disappeared in plain sight Pearls / of wisdom (he had promised her a strand, likely from a roadside stand) and want / of players and those played / depleted Mollusks and steady money both endangered The woman rode shotgun, with a buffalo-plaid checked scarf around her neck Her head turned (& tuned) to the rear-view mirror She had just finished another book (and another’s story) Reading history both a hobby and a handle on reality As the engine exhaled, she recalled women before her / all part of a journey with neither destinations nor official designations Journeys to wear and to bear Journeys of a woman named Nell And Alice Of gasoline broken over radiators In a golden flier On a five-month cross-county / no corners cut / road trip Alice and Nell had packed wide-brimmed hats, plumes, and talking points, then toured for 10,000 miles Supplies (cranks and corsets) and sustenance (chicken pudding and applesauce cake) tucked in the passenger-side compartment Their wheels (of multiple diameters) churned alongside stops

Recollections in (& of) the Rearview Mirror

for speeches (strands of syllables), efforts to avoid leeches, and rising temperatures (& tempers) With a cat (Saxon), a car (tanked), and a canon, the women were a symbol of suffrage and sustenance / of shotgun and shots taken As the Chevy coughed and the driver continued to consume, the woman with the buffalo-plaid check scarf decided, like Alice and Nell, to take her own bull by the horn Her engines on overdrive, she thought of what it’s always been to ride shotgun amidst rising sea temperatures, volatile waters, and shrinking ice sheets To take counts (and quarrel over recounts) of endangered mollusks, mountain gorillas, and monarch butterflies alongside crumbling foundations and brows inked of sweat As the driver chewed, the woman focused on the future / her eyes no longer on, but of, the rear-view mirror / and took charge of the (her) wheel for her own journey – of 10,000 miles.