Louisiana Swamp

(sound file)

This road a tidy statement
two lanes of blacktop edged by gravel
a hand's width on either side
then swamp nice and deep
green scum floating on its own time
around the stumps of trees
and sometimes a turtle
dropping from a log into
the fertile muck

and I'm thinking:
what happens if you have a flat?
or drift sleepily off the shoulder?

this must happen sometimes
and suddenly I'm pleased
at the idea
that I'm only a doze away
from getting right in there
rubbing shoulders
with the critters or maybe
becoming food for them

just when you thought your life
was too much road
too little alligator

© Lyle Weis
this poem first appeared in Madame Bull's Tavern
Autumn, 1995 Volume 1.1
(e-poem) (home)