MAYBE NEXT YEAR
Potholes occur.
But work on the roads?
Maybe next year.
Hope does endure –
see the suggestions below –
for those who drive
with the discipline required
to avoid the distractions
driving pleasures and civilities provide.
“Think less about driving fun,”
would be a good Rule One.
Focus on the surface,
not the scenery
or driving leisurely.
If you must have fun
leave your car behind
and take a 5- or a 10-k run.
A mechanic replaced my car’s front spring,
realigned the front end,
charged me five hundred bucks,
then recommended
“Drive slow,” Rule Two.
Won’t please followers
of slow-driver me.
But the goal of pot hole
management is
not their happiness.
Traffic is a distraction to ignore.
Watch the road, not someone else’s car.
To see potholes coming
use Rule Three, namely:
“Don’t follow closely.”
We prairie guys value elbow room,
but here they treat space as a liability.
Pass, change lanes and cut to fill in.
Time to make space a friend again.
Defend it against the cutters-in.
The discipline is –
if it’s traffic, ignore.
The communiques, the body language
of drivers you can’t satisfy –
let them rage.
Avoid that hole!
Yes, “Avoid those roads full of holes:” Rule Four.
Follow the roads still drive-able –
out of the way, to be sure
but detours capable
of protecting your car
while getting you . . .
who knows where.
Unfortunately for me
that’s my whole neighborhood.
We have invested so much in schools
we can’t afford the roads
to reach them.
Could mean home schooling for the grandchildren
but I can’t be sure.
Unable to get out there since the January thaw.
Now it’s April and our hole bumper crop has really matured.
I’ll see the kids again,
but in the meantime I continue
to search and share word
of roads that are good.
If you live at the end of one of the others,
maybe next year.
Dennis R. Keefe
May 1, 2009
