A drive to the lake — Josina Guess

Some days just come out as poems. It takes a lot of concentration to drive a full fifteen passenger van with a screaming child that is your own. I know this one is kind of long, but I would love to hear comments.

White car on black road

A butterfly in the sun

Swept up in car wind

I must drive carefully

My daughter screams

TURN UP THE MUSIC

I CAN’T UNDERSTAND

THE WORDS!

I turn it up

So I do not

have to

find the words

to speak to the man beside me

who thinks in Kaba, Songo and French

I wonder what he

and the other seven people

think

his wife and brother and three children

and the single mother and her toddler

refugees from wars

I can’t understand

I wonder what they think

Of my daughter

Who screams from the

Way back seat

TURN IT UP!

WHAT IS THE SONG SAYING?

And I wonder how

War or parenting can make

Children who are so quiet

And how

I and parenting can make

Children who scream so loud

I turn off the music

And tell her

I can’t tell her

What it all means

If it is so loud.

So we drive in

A kind of

silence

Eight quiet passengers

and my four fussing children

my precious cargo

I remind myself

That this is fun

That this too shall

Pass

I notice the butterflies on the road

and pray each time

that the big white van

won’t crush their

long awaited wings

with 60mph winds

Stupid Butterflies

I want to scream

Don’t you know this road is not safe

Don’t look for life and comfort here!

The sign says:

Low or Soft Shoulder

I remember Yoga class

And let my shoulders drop

And breathe

And listen

To my daughter say

Mama I have to

Pee

So we stop

Fifteen minutes away

At the gas station

And interrupt the

Indian man on his cell phone

To ask where to find and use

The Rest Room

And he points us

Outside

To the room

With scum gray walls

And she sighs with relief

As she sits on that dirty seat

We return to

Thirteen patient passengers

And the van that smells like

Bodies

Like the smell of the airport

In Dar Es Salaam

The smell of people

I love

I breathe

and smile

We are almost there.

The sign says:

This road ends in the water

We tumble out and

step off jagged rocks into

the welcoming waves

and the air is sweet for the drive home