Getting There
Rent from DeepDyve- Getting There
After two pricey tickets for speedingon Highways 17 and 43,their endless billboards screaminglike previews of a coronary,I had to slow down.I had to sprout some new veinsand arteries through Carteret,Jones, and Pitt counties,find roads and placeswith names like Fox Meadow Forks,Doc Loftin's, Pete's Reach,Buzzard's Corner, Pine Grove Chapel,and I did too,often seeing deer,a black bear once,and yesterday,over a field of February milo,a northern harrierplunge behind a tobacco barnwith a wall that shouted: EternityIs Just A Heartbeat Away.We're talking about getting to workfrom Bogue Banksall the way to Greenvilleand on roads that makethe best of time.
This poem was originally published in Long Lens: New & Selected Poems (BOA Editions, 2010) and is reprinted here courtesy of the author. [End Page 71]
Peter Makuck, founding editor of Tar River Poetry from 1978 to 2006, lives on the southern Outer Banks. His stories, poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Hudson Review, The Sewanee Review, and Poetry. His most recent book, Long Lens: New & Selected Poems, was published in April by BOA Editions, Ltd.
