anonymity

HOME STRETCH

My three-day road trip

Is nearly over

I leave the last motel

Just five more hours to go

The closer I come to home

I want to stretch it out

Delay my arrival

Stay suspended

Not here, not there

Just anonymous

Floating

Invisible.

First day was fast and furious

On the interstate monster highway

Second day I took

County roads

Weaving through midwest farm towns

Wondering at their smallness

Now on this third day

The final day

I'm an explorer

Venturing off the road

Over the train tracks

Into towns and neighborhoods

Leaving my car

To stroll through one-bench parks

To read a book

In the shade of a towering tree

Where no one knows me

Just an out-of-town license plate.

The five more hours

Have stretched into ten

As I slowed and savored

And stayed suspended

Anonymous

Floating

Invisible.

When I drive up to my house

It's evening

And I'm me again.

(another poem by Vicki Patschke)