Roads

Trans Canada No. 1
East of Vancouver,
Highway 16
North of Calgary

They’re both so
Goddamn boring.
Like I know every
Decrepit building,
Cabbage patch,
Scraggy rock,
One wheat field
Looks like another . . . .

Four-laned reflections
That stretch
And take
Forever
To become real

And me
On a bus
Warm in the rain
Or standing in the
White
20 below
Nowhere
Or talking
To make some salesman
Glad he picked me up:

All the while
Laughing
Because
After the last time
I swore
I would not fall in love
With anyone
Who lived
More then
Twenty miles away.

October '76

Braden Corby ©