Planning My Road Trip

This will be epic!

I am planning my road trip.

(Who am I kidding? I am daydreaming.)

Really, I will have to be frugal

and pack light,

but for an extended adventure—

bring only essentials. Roll my bedroll

tightly, strap it

tightly to the luggage rack.

The saddlebags are filled

with necessities: road flares, inner tube,

a selective assortment of tools.

A duffel of clothes fit for all seasons

sits on the passenger pillion (rides bitch,

            if you will),

which would otherwise be empty.

My route has been mapped out,

with various alternatives tossed about,

like a maverick or nomad.

I will visit forty-eight states

(and at least one foreign country) alone.

Of course, many things,

like consumables, I can gather

            on the road;

beg, borrow, steal the rest. I will need

a pup tent and a Coleman stove

for the road-side campsites

where I will sleep to save money

on occasion, weather permitting.

It will be bare-bones and dirt-cheap.

(Yes, even in my dreams.)  Now,

if only I still had my hog. . . . It won’t

be the same in a van.

-

"Planning My Road Trip," along with "Inspiration," is published in Issue 93 (January 2020) of Burningword Literary Journal.

Eric

There Is Fire

When the world around us

is exploding

with disbelief

and willful ignorance

while the truth

is on TV

for all the world to see,

smoke rises.

Smoke rises

from the classrooms—

our social media

experts.

Smoke rises

from sidewalk cafés

and picket lines,

engulfs a righteous nation.

Smoke lingers

until there is blood

in the streets.

            And, as we know,

where there is smoke. . . .

- 

"There Is Fire," along with "I feel naked—," is included in the Winter issue (Vol. XIII, No. 1) of Third Wednesday Magazine, a quarterly journal of literary and visual arts. 

Eric