A Brief Holiday Lecture

Be careful as you travel. All I ask

Is use your seatbelt, and if you should drink,

Don't drive. Just choose another for that task.

You're likely sparing much more than you think;

Blue Christmas is a thing nobody hopes

To add to her experiential list.

So many, though, have lost out to the dopes

Who hurt or maim or or worse, through thoughtlessness.

Don't be that guy; that way we all can share

A happy time (except for those who've lost

Already -- and if you can, really, spare

A thought for such as those - it doesn't cost

A thing!). And that's all that I've got to say,

Except to have a joyous holiday!

In Which I Do Not Enjoy My Day's Drive One Bit

"May 25th, so put your parka on,"
My buddy said as I pulled out of town.
You'd think this was sarcasm; you'd be wrong.
A sheaf of thundersnow was coming down
So thick and bad I could but barely see.
The windshield wipers weren't up to the job
For one, and for another, there must be
A better word for what that sky did. Sob!
The world grows tiny on such trips, down to
The pavement and the mucky, murky air:
No sight of all of country driven through,
Each quarter-mile its own tough challenge. There
Is nothing like Wyoming in the spring.
No really: there is not any such thing.

In Which Is Considered Mile Marker 332

The interstate fogged in across the top,
Just me and near one hundred giant trucks,
We slow sometimes to something like a stop;
A wreck up here gets messy and my luck's
Been on a streak of awesome; if it runs
Out here I'm in big trouble. One mistake
However small, begets much bigger ones
As trucks crash into crashes. How I quake
Just driving past a milepost where once burned
So many trucks at such an intense heat
The pavement melted and eight people earned
Their tickets out of this life. Caution's meet
As I traverse the area; I've got
More now to live for than I ever sought!