Roadside Attraction

We're travelling uneasily down this highway
Approaching that beloved and dreaded destination
Switching seats until I lose track of who's steering
Gas pedal halfway-down and left foot dozing on the brake
Mistaking your signals for the mile markers
Trying to find our route through your words
The roadsign announces we've arrived, we make nervous U-turns
Afraid of what lies just off the exit
That seedy motel of cheap bliss
The drive-through issuing fast greasy fulfillment
Can we cruise these lamp-lined streets together
Broadcasting emotions in neon and billboards
Promise sprawling like a used car lot
Flirtations waving like its colored streamers
Lost in the dim back alleys of misinterpretation
My rural fears waking to the smell of these risks
Heart shaking like a compact car
A loud mysterious rattling under the hood
Which one of us will sit at the wheel
And which will get out and push?

---

Back