while traveling to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, a 13 hour drive, I took a vacation without leaving my car.


Vacation of the Mind

Cars and trucks moving fast and faster
over mile after mile of highway
compete for my attention
as we become a part of the great moving horde
headed for respite some place other
than where we've been.

A passenger of time, traveling
away from who I was back there
in the now and everyday life,
I dream, as faces speed by
in their own time capsules
running away from or towards
familiar days without surprises.

Dream-staring, I consider the sky
painting with white and blue brushes
in bold swaths like a sythe in the wheat fields
I cannot hear in this state, ears excuse themselves
granting space in my mind to image and emotion,
A destination not subject to the laws of movement.

A sudden stop brings me back
to the sounds and smells of traffic.
Faces in other vehicles show strain
and boredom.
I look at my driver, focused on the at hand
then open my ears, turn on music of my youth,
and close my eyes.
My vision dismissed, I am free to fly off
to the times and places of sweetness and love.

Moving down the highway
my body strapped in an apolstered seat
I go where I am taken
by music or scene
time relevant only to a physical destination
but opened wide to a vacation of the mind.








Poetry by Phyllis J. Rhodes
Read 543 times
Written on 2009-07-14 at 22:23

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John Lambremont, Sr.
The tone of the poem helps underscore the theme/message. Nicely done, a very good read.
2009-07-16


Kathy Lockhart
what a wonderment of words decribing so fluidly vivid your experiences. I love the way reading this let me escape for awhile in your poetry.

This is one of my favorite verses:

Dream-staring, I consider the sky
painting with white and blue brushes
in bold swaths like a sythe in the wheat fields
I cannot hear in this state, ears excuse themselves
granting space in my mind to image and emotion,
A destination not subject to the laws of movement.

it is so beautiful!
2009-07-15


normalil
I am with you on that drive, I have the same feelings. You describe them perfectly. We are so sealed off in our little metal capsules, but all kinds of thoughts come streaming in...
2009-07-14