THE ROAD TAKEN

From The Imaginary Garden comes a prompt imagined by Kerry O'Connor - from Elizabeth Bishop, The Fish, "Our Open Link provides us with the opportunity to write a promptless poem, to plumb the depths of consciousness and present our own visions in the form of poetry."

The detour led us off the highway

and onto a gravel road,
past shacks and crooked trailers.
The gravel in the wheelwells

amplified the quiet in the car—

our children in the back suddenly paying attention.

We’d crossed an invisible border

and entered a country where people sit on porches,

stare at the oddity of traffic, and don’t wave.

The road led us deeper into the woods
and through hills fit for a brochure

but outside the window garbage overflowed the ditch—

discarded tires and old car bumpers,

scraps of metal and broken glass signaling for help.

Dust hung in the air and breached the rolled windows,

and I wanted the highway, manicured rest areas and speed limits.
Our detour through this country inside a country

made our children put down their books

and ask questions we couldn't answer.

And what I remember more than what I wrote is the sense of fear that permeated the car, fear of the unknown and resentment at having been thrown into such an uncomfortable situation. We did not want to see what we were forced to see. And while it's been a while, I still see the vacant stares and feel the stillness that hung in the air.