Driving with Miles
Rain falls, steady, and I say so what.
Wipers try in vain to keep the beat,
but this combo is too tight.
The bass just layin’ it down,
horn and sax sparring.
There’s a fog rolling through the hills,
tellin’ the rain
hold the ice, this is just too cool.
Bare branches, with pines the only green
in a landscape of white on brown.
Wait! A lone birch like a ghost that knows.
As blue as this feels,
there will be no blue sky.
And that so what refrain slips in
and out.
Narrow roads now,
winding through wet grass
lined with granite and marble.
A memorial among memorials,
some barely legible.
Everything here is blue,
except the pines, white now with big, heavy flakes.
Country roads skirt the mountains,
Snow, now powder, hangs in the air
like a fog. Roads slicker than the music.
Hands tense on the wheel.
Piano eases through me, slowly
levels out, brings me back to the lake,
out there somewhere,
blue asleep within the white.
This is from a reading at Spine Bookstore & Café, St Louis, MO (12 Mar 2023).
Driving with Miles is included in my poetry collection, Glass Awash, published by Spartan Press.
Shared with OpenLinkNight at dVerse ~ Poets Pub.
rivrvlogr 
This was perfect for the reading and even better when I heard you tell about the real drive back.
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Thank you.
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This is incredibly powerful writing, Ken! It was lovely hearing you read it today. I especially resonate with; “Snow, now powder, hangs in the air like a fog. Roads slicker than the music.” 💙💙
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Thank you, Sanaa.
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I particularly like the role of music in this poem.
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Thank you. Music does make the trips easier, and if I can work it into my poetry, all the better.
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You’re welcome.
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Love this Ken…how the music and landscape words and feelings intertwine.
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Thank you, Janice.
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I enjoyed seeing your reading and hearing you today.
I really love the intertwining of music, and the sights around you, and the repetition of blue in different ways–just the way it looks in the snow and sounds in music.
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Thank you, Merril. Finding, or creating, a link between the music and sights as I drive doesn’t always work out. Headspace is a big part of it. I wrote one last week while on the way to Wyoming. I can’t decide if it’s done or if I should give it more thought on the drive home.
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You’re welcome, Ken.
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Beautifully written poem.
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Thank you.
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I enjoyed hear you read your travel poem today. Snowy trips can be both beautiful and dangerous.
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Thank you, Dwight. Yes, driving in snow is at the bottom of my list of desires!
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What a treat spending time with you today!
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Thank you, Helen!
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This is great. I feel I’m there with you, it’s so vivid.
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Thank you, Claudia. It was some white knuckle driving.
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Oh WOW – felt right there! Reading this after a day rolling toward current campsite … yet easily shifting my perspectives to your scene …
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Thanks, Jazz. We got some snow driving in this past week. We put off a trip to Casper for a family matter several times due to weather. The drive was uneventful, but snow met us when we arrived, and then again today.
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Fascinating combination of sounds and visions. Not just noises and sights, but visions and music. Exquisite touch of color in the darkness. Beaten rhythm of words and windshield, tree and sky, poet and world. Hints of genealogy and stone. You actually give me chills, Ken. Bravo.
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Thank you, sir. For me the conditions made the trip even more significant.
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