pennsylvania

driving through the
mountains with snow
and fog and a rented
metal box with heat
and no windshield
wiper fluid -
curved roads
up and down
the mountains
in the distance
rise up, dark against
the backdrop of
yet another
grey sky -
and then
before you
know it you're
there in midst
of it seeing
what you'd seen
far away a few
minutes before
a tunnel and
country folk
on AM radio-
scan/seek/no
cds - the
scenery
of houses
on hills
and streets
up and down
and the
temperament
of some in
the mountains
the same and yet
some of them are
different, fitting
in with the region.

the season is winter
and cold in the morning
and grey and foggy all
the way into dee cee
district of columbia
toll roads and mtn
men and women -
communities
in valleys
and farms
on the sides
of hills -
terraced
landscape -
mountain men
and women
with the
one noticable -
or easily
remembered
at the gas station
asking how to get back
to the interstate -
hagerstown or baltimore
where you want to go -
he asked, a little
upset (seemingly)
that i was asking
even for more than
just change and OIL
based fuel - indiana
i said with a grin and
his coworker smiled.

- there's a hagerstown indiana too, i said.

Oh, really, the thirties going on 40s lady said
chewing gum and thinking about her next appointment
to the 'beauty saloon' or whatever the local
term for those types of shops was -

- yeah, really.

on the road again...
diversionary