Travel Through Desert

[Reilley]

Travel through desert is just different -

–

They say you should never try it alone.
And fill your tank first, don’t forget water.
You know when it is near,
because the gas station is busier
than Beaver’s house when the dam broke,
even late, not long past midnight -
locals eating lunch.

–

When you leave the light at last
you feel what real dark is,
the last glow of things made by man
in the rear-view.

–

Something within you just – slows.

–

You make what time you can before the east ignites.
Rolling or stumbling, it is up to you.
And when you learn what life is like
on a match-head,
you know with certainty
if you want to stay.

–

You make the decision, every time.
Cannot cross without doing it.
You choose to see the other side.
Or you choose not to.

[Brigid Briton]

Hi Reilly,

This is an interesting, contemplative piece. Yes, the desert at night. Been there many times. Slept there, under a kazillion stars. Remember taking a beer out of the ice chest for breakfast once, popping it open, and it froze up shortly after opening. So, the desert has a colder side, sometimes...when you're more than passing through.

I think you mean "dam" in line five.

Your poetry always makes me think. Thanks for sharing this.

Brigid

[Reilley]

Thanks Brigid. You were right about "dam", I stared at that stanza for five straight minutes, wondering what was wrong, I felt it, I knew there was something, I re-read it forty times or so, and I just could not possibly see it, lol. Right in front of my face the whole time.

Crossing the desert is really only possible at night, or so I've read, trying to do it during the heat of the day is an invitation to disaster. That is the choice I was referring to.

[Brigid Briton]

Yeah, Reilley, it's hard to see our own little boo-boos. That is why God created editors. Yours was a minor one...but perhaps was a Freudian slip indicating your displeasure with a crowded gas station.

I've crossed the desert in the daytime and lived to tell about it so it is possible. Perhaps the beer helped?

I did get it about the cross/not to cross decision being the choice, however, it was these words that gave me pause:

when you learn what life is like
on a match-head,
you know with certainty
if you want to stay.

–

You make the decision, every time.
Cannot cross without doing it.
You choose to see the other side.
Or you choose not to.

It almost sounds like the sort of thing a person contemplating suicide might be pondering. That's not to say that I think thatyouare, only that that's what it evoked, at least for me.

Brigid

[Cory Raymond]

Good work, Reilley!

[Fire Monkey]

With my horrible spelling I would likely not notice an error like "dam"/"damn" but if I had I might well have though in this poem it was an intended play on words

I like the poem - I haven't ever crossed a desert - not that sort at least - though crossing the prairies can be a bit like that too in some ways and the badlands out around Drumheller, Alberta, have a lot in common - but again, not exactly the same, but I feel that I can relate to the poem. Partly that I can draw on experiences I have had and together with the poem I can imagine what crossing a desert would be like but more that I can relate to it metaphorically. Either way, great job.