MAGPIE 76
Photograph courtesy Tess Kinkaid, Magpie Tales
A long straight dusty road
Mile after mile of nothing
Except flat land
As far as the eye can see
No t junctions or side roads
To break the monotony
Of driving through
The parched hardened land
A stifling hot afternoon
Not even a hint of breeze
To help cool
Even with all windows down
A dot in the far distance
Looms larger as the
Miles go by
At last a place of refuge
Dozing man on the stoop
A slow turning turbine
Creaks in pain
Breaking the total silence
Barbara Lake ©
August 2011
Trinidad WI
Trinidad WI
Wonderful take on this Magpie. It certainly transported me to the plains of Kansas.
ReplyDeleteI like your poem, Bee! Great sense of atmosphere and country.
ReplyDeleteA great sense of vast emptiness here.
ReplyDeleteI have never travelled in the states so had no idea that is what it was really like
Ohh...you have beautifully described a lonely-rough journey...Nicely done indeed! :)
ReplyDeleteWow! You painted a vivid work of art with your words....
ReplyDeleteI felt that one. Achingly hot and dry.
ReplyDelete(Bee - hope you don't mind if I mention there is a typo in S2,L1, just a spacing thing. I did my comment separately if you want to change that line and delete this.
ReplyDeleteJacqui: of you were transported to the plains of Kansas then I was able to conjure up some sort of atmosphere - and that gives me hope! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNicholas: coming from you, that is praise indeed. Thank you.
Jane: I'm glad you picked up on the emptiness. Thank you. I have never travelled through the US - I've just a lot of movies!
Erratic: thank you
Catfish: sorry you were disappointed by the ending - that's normally what happens when the traveller gets to the gas station in no man's land - the sweaty, dozing attendant ignores him/her...
Helen; thank you. you always come with such words of encouragement.
Other Mary: thank you, you were meant to! And no I don't mind at all. I couldn't make up my mind whether it was a Tjunction, a tee junction or a T junction. Mow that you've brought it up I'm going to take it out altogether for the simple reason that there would not be a t junction on a desert road! Thanks.
l too felt the aloneness, and dustiness of the long hot journey.
ReplyDeleteWow, I love this. Wonderful imagery.
ReplyDeleteha..oh, that is sooo true....you captured a road trip in the Midwest USA perfectly! :)
ReplyDeletevery good take...
ReplyDeleteJJRod'z
For a minute I missed the word "driving" and imagined someone walking. Then I thought of the way I felt when first driving across the Alberta prairie after a lifetime in British Columbia, which is all mountain ranges.
ReplyDelete(PS — I think it is T-junction, if I remember correctly from novels set in England. One road meeting another but not crossing it.)
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
Nice one!! Long dreary roads and the monotony of driving is nerve racking and so even the creak of an old turbine can be music to the ears!! :)
ReplyDeleteYou have captured that feeling well Bee this is written beautifully!
ReplyDeleteSummer feels like a long monotonous road about now. Wonderful write, B.
ReplyDeleteLynn: glad you caught the drift
ReplyDeleteThingy: thank you
Betsy: glad you think so
jj: thank you for visiting and page and making such a nice comment
Kay L: I wouldn't like to be walking that road! Glad it stirred some memories. Yes it is T Junction - still haven't changed it!
Nanka: you're right
Carrie: nice to see you - thank you
Tess: funny in winter how we long for the heat and then...........thank you
Thank you to you all for dropping in, reading and leaving me such positive comments.
Oh! Look! I can comment now. Yay!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the poem and imagery. It paints a very true picture of West Texas, a more desolate place I cannot thing of.
So pleased to see you here Annie.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine what it must be like to be in a place such as West Texas so am pleased to kow that you think I caught it, Thank you.