Driving Home on Highway 30
1.
Subtract myself again, feeling grief/
feeling relief at seeing pasture
after too many curving miles of limestone.
2.
I realize I have become competent
at a few things now:
– ordering words
– making these lists
– glimpsing one solitary star in the dark,
its sole presence a reminder of something lost.
3.
I practiced in negatives–but so many
frogs and insects chirrup in the dark.
4.
Maybe nature’s circumstances–
the moving miles, the fine
veil of rain, prismatic flash–
are not saying anything at all,
but I would like to think–
I’d hope you know–
22 thoughts on "Driving Home on Highway 30"
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
This is great, Shaun. I love how you’ve ended the poem, that’s how hope feels … put out there.
Thank you, Bill. I appreciate the kind words!
Omg Shaun, Bill is right this is great.
I love everything about this poem.
Everything.
Thanks so much, Coleman. I really appreciate it!
Beautiful poem. Love the rhyme in the first stanza and the pasture after too many miles of limestone…very central Kentucky. I also love that you used “chirrup,” which is a fun word.
Thank you, Chelsie!
Love this, Shaun. I feel I know you from this poem. What a beautiful soul you have.
💛 Thanks, Kevin. Poems are little puzzling structures to me. I’m glad that I can show parts of myself through them and hope that ideally they open up to things we might all have felt, if that makes sense.
I like the surprise of stanza 3 and the resolution of the poem, especially how it’s left open.
Thank you, Kris!
That last stanza, those last two lines take my breath away.
💛 Thanks so much, Karen.
Super competent at lists. I love the lone star “a reminder of something lost.”
Thanks, Sue! Where I’ve been living, the light pollution makes them harder to see and when I get to peek some stars, it’s a real treat.
I really like how you balance the concrete and abstract, nature and mind. So eloquently constructed.
Having just gotten home from a week’s trip to KC, I also appreciate being back on my familiar paths.
It’s good to go away from home but it’s also good to come back! Thanks so much, Jim.
As someone who just drove home (and now lie in bed reading through various poets’ entire 2024 catalogue), this poem was nothing short of amazing. I love the last line of 2 and all of 3 especially. We can always be more practiced in the negatives and still never be fully aware of the next.
Thank you, Stefan! I agree and think it’s a balance. I tend toward Nostalgia and have to try to oppose it with something else
I was told directions by three different people as I tried to get on Highway 30 yesterday. My phone was dead and going west around the mountains took me in circles. A fourth man mowing, stopped when I motioned for him from the center of the road. He told me not to worry, people always discover the complexity of mountain travel and said a gps would not have helped me. He pointed back the way I came and said to go to the four-way stop–go straight through–turn left. 31 miles later, I motioned for a bearded man, going into a liquor store and he told me to go back the way I had just come and it would be a long drive but 30 would take me to London. It did…
It will get you to London–eventually! And some of the Old 30/New 30 changes have cut it up weirdly too.
Such poignancy & aching–beautful.
Thanks, Taunja. I really appreciate that. 💛