5:25 am. Yesterday. Any day.
I-95 S.
Left hand at 11 o’clock.
Finger tips on right, spinning dial. Playing Russian Roulette with one of 4,378 tunes. DK is Living large. Letting it land where it may.
Left foot tapping. Tapping. Tapping. Let’s go Man. Let’s go. I’m tailing a black limousine in the left lane doing fifty. A yellow light glows in the back seat. A Suit reads the morning paper.
I re-grip the steering wheel – swing right, accelerate, and swing sharply left. Lynyrd Skynyrd…’Cause I’m as free as a bird now…
The limo is back in my rear view mirror. I drift into a collage of Vine clips, stitched together with snippets of blog posts, movies, books (6 in flight) and highlights from my binge watching of Netflix. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping. You are gulping them down. Gasping for air. Faster and faster. And then the Nimbostratus. Katrina Kenison, on her Magical Journey, An Apprenticeship in Contentment: “Thirty, forty, fifty – how could three quarters of my life by over? Where did it go?”
I pull into the garage.
Park.
And Pause.
My right hand grips the gear shift knob. P. R. N. D.
You are stuck in Overdrive. It’s not sustainable, I’ve been told. You’ll burn out, they say.
Burn? Burning? A passage I read earlier in the morning lingers in the background, groping its way to the front, pushing away the clutter. Soothing. My Magical Journey. My form of Contentment. A bone warming salve. Here it comes…
But birds when they die
find hidden places, sigh invisibly
into leaves. For it is the air
itself which finally claims us,
drawing our last exhalations
into its reckless burning, this air
which we have borrowed since
our first stunned gasp.~ Jean Janzen, “Magnolia,” Poetry
I step out of the car.
Grab my briefcase.
And walk to the building.
You came into this world with a stunned gasp.
There’ll be miraculous symmetry.
You leave with one too.
Notes:
- Jansen Poem: Thank you The Sensual Starfish. Photo: Jaimejustelaphoto
- Related Posts: Driving Series
“Burning the candle at both ends; Twice the light in half the time”…Joe Walsh, Falling Down.
Love that. Had never hear that Ray. Thanks for sharing.
Until we realize that in doing so, the candle burns out more quickly…more time v. Greater intensity? I’ll try for the gently glow…
I can feel it, your gently glow. I do.
I’m trying…really trying to go for the glow and not the brightest light.
I have no doubt that you are effectively achieving both.
Hmmmm…methinks your confidence bar is placed a bit too high..but thank you
A beautiful poem by Janzen. It made me still and reminded me to breathe deeply. Great post and writing.
You do that. I can feel it. Thank you Karen.
yes, and i’ve noticed your posts this week are all about breathing and air and life. all so vitally connected.
Interesting. Until you mentioned it, I hadn’t made the connection. Thank you.
“The road has got me hypnotized And I’m speeding into a new sunrise”
I hope that at about …”half past four DK will be shifting gears” marking time as the minute hand ticks until that Golden Bell of Freedom, whistles at five o’clock…headed North, Homeward bound….(for some reason I see Fred Flintstones, jubilant look as he slides down the back of the dinosaur. while howling, yab a dab a do, in pursuit of his parked car so he can head home)…Home a place of Rest…
Yes, Christie. And had to look up the lyrics. Radar Love. Love that.
Love that Jean Janzen poem … stopped me for a moment …
I hope to die with a final long exhale of letting go.
Boy, me too.
Beautiful writing, DK. But somewhere in between the Russian Roulette, the overtaking on the right, and the heartfelt poem, there’s a message to self ~ slow down. A budding awareness.
Thank you Helen. I believe you are right.
You have so many friends here.
Smiling. I do.
I am lost into the words… into the poetical souls… I am lost… sometimes your posts deeply touch and find me, as if I feel once again myself… it is something like that dear David, maybe my writer soul, finds something, remembers how beautiful words… how beautiful how beautiful… Thank you and also Thank you for the poet, I haven’t met before, made me cry these lines… I am, so emotinal one, one bird flew too from heart this morning…
with my love, nia
Ahhh, Nia. Thank you.
How can my life be three quarters over? Oh David, mine is so much more than that, and still I am racing against the clock instead of having taken retirement when I could..I feel as though I’ve barely begun and so much more to do.. How do I manage this, and at 6.30 as a mad day looms – and this in break, yet! I breathe, but not too long in case sadness for all that I am missing engulfs me and here the tears come.. Why am I not home with my grandchildren before they too, all leave the nest? Ah.. Melancholy I am this week.. God help me in September when my birthday finally arrives.. All this from your writing.. Wow.. Thank you as always..
I was moved by your comment Makere. Thank you.
PS twice the light.. I’m looking up Joe Walsh 🙂
🙂 Agree…
“Thirty, forty, fifty – how could three quarters of my life by over? Where did it go?” I wonder that, too. It’s scary to think that in the blink of an eye I have moved into this stage of life. Anyway, great writing, as usual.
Yes. I living that dream too Carol. 🙂 Thank you.