Rocky Mountain lightening bolt
Shock and awe
Down the meandering highway
Clouds open, washout
Blackened backdrop
Roadside castle owners beg for the winter winds
Their empty chalets silent in the August rain
Visibility zero. Gotta get some sleep

Musty motel
Stained sheets, restless night
Vail hails with a beckon and a cry
Eagle County bar light – a sight for sore eyes
‘Go to Cisco, man!’ The skater chick insists
There you’ll find the empty town
With nothing but dust to kill your time
Be sure to fill up at Grand Junction
The booze is stronger than the Mormon kind
“Try the Continental Divide Trail.” Her skater dude persists
Ain’t got time

Moab, Shiprock, Amarillo await
Moon rocks, red rocks — carved by ancient sea washouts
The lonely riverside ride has me wondering why
What brought me here?

From my cozy cocoon on Lake Erie
Through the Iowa cornfields to Lincoln, Nebraska
Where Zimmerman groaned about Mr. Jones and a Rolling Stone
To North Platte, Golden, Nederland
The pines piled high on the mountainside
I came to look for America
I think Simon and Garfunkel said that
America found me
I said that

Lost, roaming, searching, hoping

So here I am
Along the Colorado
Utah’s playground
Onward
To Navajo Nation
Where Shiprock stands tall

Must be an alien monument
To the desert spirit that leaves the earth dry
My Kerouac fantasy nears the end
Texas cow pastures signal the return
The stench blasts through closed air-conditioned windows
A row of Cadillacs stab the ranch ground
Some artist put them there, I hear
An ode to a simpler time

Canadian River
Parched Okie land
Joplin, Missouri, before the wind whipped it into sand
Here I come Erie Dearie
I know you missed me
St. Louis, Effingham and Terre Haute on the way
They knew I couldn’t stay

Back to Ohio
My Midwest home
No longer lost
But still alone

Roaming, searching, hoping