ode to a road trip

Jennifer Kite-Powell
1 min readApr 21, 2024

you dusty straight line of crushed rock
and glistening white lines
you sexy beast

you ask nothing of me
i just have to stay in the lines

scan the horizon
set the cruise control

it’s the only time i can cruise control my life and it still takes me somewhere

it’s the only time i can let go and be free
free of senseless requests, duplicitous conversations and free- range egos
free of the suffocating stench of other’s fear and loathing

you gorgeous, glistening heap of pressed sand and rock.

you take me to wide open spaces
where my mind can run wild and look so pretty

but wait
what’s this?

a beguiling county road paved with nothing but dust

i know you go somewhere
somewhere is perfect

an old man in a gigantic brown cowboy hat
driving a brown cadillac el dorado
with a tiny pomeranian in his lap
tips his hat and grins
as he passes me in a plume of dust

he knows where he’s going

i toss back my head
laugh with abandon
and watch the sun the sink into the sea ahead of me

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Jennifer Kite-Powell

Speculative poet, flash fiction writer, author, podcaster & Forbes senior contributor. Read my work here, on substack or at www.jenniferkite-powell.com