On the road from home to home

The earth is so gracious

Southern Iowa in late autumn

Day 28 of 30 Days of Poetry, Autumn 2024

Outside 
(beyond my bothersome brain)
the earth is so gracious.
Once again, 
on the road from
home to home
I give myself over to 
quiet consumption
of her perfect form,
this time in barren autumn
after the harvest
after the fall
where fields give way
to the horizon,
where subtle curves
heave and gulp the road,
where clouds shift
in dollops and hordes
on the cool blue blanket above.
Aniah and I gab
in one direction,
inflating the van
around us --
the other way,
Dad's quiet, counting
Cooper's hawks, pointing to 
a deer family frolicking 
on the corn-stubbed hill,
under a splashy sun.
Every car passing:
another imperfect
soul gripping the wheel,
another portal 
into an unknown heart.

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I’ve done the drive on I-35 / I-80 KC to QC more times than I can count and it never gets old.

Today’s words was “gracious,” from my aunt-in-law, Lois, who lives in North Vancouver, BC. Hi Lois! We love you! (That’s Colin’s mom’s sister).