Theme Friday: Detour
You can go home
if you can get there
if the bridges hold
and if they don’t
you’ll have to take H
and nevermind its
Dead End sign
you’ll have to drive
past that
and onto the gravel
mindful of switchbacks
and oncoming traffic
for which you’ll have
to pull over
and wait
until you can
safely
move forward
again.
***
Drowned Woman;Hot Sky 
August 20, 2010 at 08:31
What you can do with just a few words is AMAZING.
August 20, 2010 at 09:10
Thank you, Susan. It’s all true. 🙂
Heavy rains and flooding have made detours very necessary in northern Missouri. You wouldn’t believe how many bridges are out!
August 20, 2010 at 10:19
I’m glad to know where in the Universe your Lucerne is! I’d meant to ask before. So sorry tohear of flooding because of the destruction and chaos it leaves behind, but I wonder … were you able to enjoy the detours? Did you see things you never would have seen before? Do you think about things differently for having taken these detours? I’m in a philosophic mode this morning … doing some “roads not taken” as well as “roads taken” reminiscing.
August 20, 2010 at 11:15
We DID enjoy the detours, my sisters and I. I think it made things easier for us in a way. We were forced to think of the experience differently, and that was helpful, because as happy as we were to be “home”, with people we love and who are important to us, we were going home with no home, no parents, to go to. If that makes sense. Having to get there differently than we have always gotten there before (even the highway into town was moved over awhile back) was the first step in establishing a new “normal” for ourselves. I think. 🙂
August 20, 2010 at 12:19
[…] Â Clancyjane […]
August 20, 2010 at 12:35
As always, your economy with words is a gift to the reader. Who knew that a detour could be so striking. There’s so much to imagine, but what you’ve given us gives us that power.
I see a pickup. I hear the tires and gravel struggling- it’s that crunch I love. It’s a bumpy ride. The driver hopes to get at least some distance in before having to pull over. (Or perhaps make it straight through without having to, but what are the odds?)
You take me there. Every time.
August 20, 2010 at 13:57
Ah Clancy the joy of country living. A pick up comes in mighty handy, doesn’t it? As mentioned by other readers, your economy of words is a striking aspect of your writing acumen.
Annie
August 20, 2010 at 15:19
We also look forward to our journey home but there is no home there…it is just a memory but there is comfort in just being there with so many memories. I think our loved ones are still there watching over us from above.
August 25, 2010 at 23:51
Wow. How’d I miss commenting on this?
I laughed on that “You’ll have to take H.” The bridges are so wonderfully metaphorical.
Oh, and Switchbacks. That’s what’s staying with me. That’s loaded.
Nice work.