Another Poem in Which Traveling Is a Metaphor for Life

To escape a love that didn’t last,

you drive toward another one

that won’t last either.

 

The trip from Fort Wayne to Bedford

takes four years, six months,

and ten days.

 

To fight despair, you count

other jackknife travelers

on the road.

 

One man holds a torch

out the window,

threatening the asphalt.

 

Outside Anderson, a car

balances at a forty-five

degree angle to the ground.

 

South of Indianapolis, the road

becomes less flat, curves more,

gives the illusion of distance.

 

Coming up on Bloomington,

you find yourself

wanting to turn back.

 

The sky over Bedford welcomes,

but its smile is conditional.

The road you travel

 

is paved with broken teeth,

and your hands cry out

as they grip the wheel.

 

-Ben Larson (Allen County)

Ben Larson lives in Fort Wayne and is a limited term lecturer in English at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. His poetry can be seen in publications such as Calibanonline and Haggard and Halloo.

Indiana Humanities is celebrating National Poetry Month by sharing a poem from an Indiana poet every day in April (hand-selected by Indiana Poet Laureate George Kalamaras). Check in daily to see who is featured next!