Driving During Quarantine / Friend Zone 2007

Driving during quarantine is like

driving with a learner's permit

or on breaks from college,

exceeding the speed of walking, running, cycling -

It shares in common with cycling

and flying in dreams

the big push,

the lift -

The road is a canvas that I
keep to one side of.

I could be pulled over
for having more fun.

                     *

A September Saturday I took my sister's car and drove us north for no reason
I could think of, except to go fast and straight.

The road was straight and there were few cars.
We passed farmhouses, tractors,

the warehouse lawn littered with pools.

I played you my CDs -

You liked Crosby, Stills, & Nash.

We stopped when we reached water:
Lake Ontario and on the other side

Canada. Wind and erosion carved me up
in the way I wanted. For three years

I made you copilot in my flights of fancy.
I never promoted you.

 

Chimney Bluffs State Park with view of Lake Ontario, Wolcott NY, September 2007