A Poem from the Road

It Turns Out This Is a Country for Old Men

Billboards grow in the cornfields
Beneath the blue sky of this red state,
Targeting truckers, perhaps, but also
Revealing the repressed desires
Of those for whom even religion and repentance
Require a threat of vengeance.

Adult Superstore Next Exit!
Novelties, Toys, and Lingerie!
Recreational Cannabis!
Phantom Fireworks!
Stun Guns, Knives and Swords!
Surrender to Jesus!

Elsewhere, an angry man wipes blood from his ear
On a crowded stage and heads to the next town
As my true crime podcast rolls to the next episode
And I drive relentlessly toward the unknown.