February 10, 2015

the temptation of exits

How easy to envision, in the thick of our tired journey, a sudden and permanent
departure. How alluring the call of the formless wild, the verdant seduction
of disappearance, the pull toward an unseen narrative we have been spinning
like one, long carousel ride. When the sign appears, the car goes silent, and we stare
past the windshield toward the road twisting off the spine-straight interstate, wondering
what, exactly, might be waiting there. We grip the armrests, testing ourselves.
But the seesaw tips before we know it, the car not slowing at all, and we breathe in
the heat and intimacy of the inches between us. The highway continues, busy with exits
promising one thing better than the last, and we realize we'll never really know
the answer. Or that it's right here, engine humming, moving us along without a word.