Driving home to Vermont from Virginia
what am I thinking?
I am thinking I will see men without masks
whenever we stop for a break along 81 and 78
I am thinking
Virginia is a pretty state
pretty conservative
with lots of birds singing where we were
I am thinking
swimming in the river with family was fun
I tubed over to a limestone rock
with two identical holes shaped like artillery bullets
sculpted into the rock by the river
in which schools of tiny fish
would sometimes appear
I am thinking
good thing we aren't on the road much longer
because I was losing my patience with the men
who aren't wearing masks
(I even took out my annoyance on one
who was entering the men's room
bare-faced
I said blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!
he said, "Huh?")
I am remembering some things we passed
(earlier while I was driving and thinking)
that stick in my mind's eye
A neat ranch-style house surrounded by corn
A cement silo with trees growing out the top
Round bales in a sloping field
distancing
Miles of brown branches over the guardrail and brown grass
from spraying
A field with cows grazing around
50-year-old pines randomly spaced
holding moisture and shadows
left over from the night
obviously happy
and not in the least affected
by my or anyone else's
troubled thoughts
