Driving


I was driving
he sat in the passenger seat

I could feel his leg and smell him.

I liked a boy who was silent most of the time.

My Honda lost in a parking lot

we were driving
my remote out the window

trying to make it beep.

I was OK being lost

as it was more time with Alex.

I knew when we found my car
he'd be gone

and I'd be awake.

So we walked and drove around places
we hadn't been,

at one stage a parking lot
full of people

lighting fireworks.

Walked through stores and towns
that never existed.

*

At 19
I drove fast—

except driving Rose home on Sunday nights
speed limit 65

I'd drive 48 or 52
holding her hand

back to Geneva.

*

With Alex this morning
27 years after our fifth summer

in Western New York

a dream with your smell, presence, silence.