November 13, 2021

Penny Snow Dream

How many times you put me

In your back seat,

Listened to me chatter down

Sun-soaked roads

On our way to the park or

The music store. 


This time it’s a dream. 

You are the passenger 

In the car ahead of me. 


In a dream, everything is real. 


Turning the corner,

Some familiar landmarks.

Lined leather gloves, 

Wool caps and winter coats 

Pump gas at the Mobile station.  

Across the street 

Regulars line up for a fish fry. 


Eyes forward now,

blinkers offer a sign

Of what’s ahead.


You turn right

Onto South Clinton

Toward home. 

I try to keep pace

To stop you 

From disappearing

Into what’s next. 


Flash forward:

Next door, I wait for you

Inside a neighbor’s house 

I’ve never seen. 

Rick is there. 

From the bay window 

We wonder

Why isn’t she home yet?


You left so fast. 

I never took my eyes off of you

Until I did. 


Moving the curtain aside

Headlights rounding the corner,

Falling sleet dulls their beam. 

The faceless driver 

Pulls in to your driveway,

Turns on the brights so you

Can find your way.


Through quickening flurries, 

You rise. 

Look how your smile 

Lights the night,

Snow turns headlights into halos.


You walk 

As if you had never stopped,

Climb your porch steps,

Turn to the waiting car,

Wave a thank you, goodbye. 


With a twist of the knob

You are home.