and so we rolled on
often half-blind from the low sun
but anonymous behind our Ray-bans
sometimes we stopped and posed in turn
beside the coffee-and-cream Chevy
letting red sundown glint on the chrome
and on our naked arms
more often we kept the car at a steady hum
along the desert blacktop
another town
motel
diner
gas station
rest room
all became one
just as the straight blue highway
melted into our eyes and became our world
maybe with one hand feeling the vibes
through the column-shift the other light on the wheel
I would look across and venture a smile or a kiss
but again she might have been her own ghost
when my head jerked back
at the blaring horn of a Peterbilt
because all I came to know was this
in the naugahyde cocoon of a fifty-seven Bel Air
two inches on a map
is forever
on a blue highway
Author notes
(i)
On older road-maps of the USA, minor roads, which may well have once been major highways before the Interstates were built, used to be marked in blue.
In a list
A contest entry
- Write free verse fromsubjects given Winklings & friends # 84 by Lyndon.
3500 points, ended May 27, 2008, 15 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 26 of 26
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Route 66 revisted
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I got my kicks there.
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Finely written, a poem that makes a traveler appreciate what you say so beautifully. Aye, all of that and more implied. Lovely poem!
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Congrats on your gold here. A vividly told story of motion and memory. I have been in that car, on that blue highway, and you brought it back to life
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"two inches on a map is forever"....Don't I know it! Have traveled many of those blue highways in my day, and always an adventure, which you have brought to life with this amazing, down-to-earth portrayal. Congratulations on a well-deserved Gold trophy!
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As generations pass
you may need to reference some terms such as the brand name for artificial, if colourful, leather or 'pleather'.
As does all authoritative free verse, your form made its own rules and I enjoyed the ride down the page and along the 'blue highway'.
[I do not know who you are, of course, but my first car was a '57 Humber, cobber! ]
The merit of the poem lies in the lining; the flow of sensible, interesting images; the continuity which still allowed you to paint nostalgic and cute cameos:
"sometimes we stopped and posed in turn
beside the coffee-and-cream Chevy
letting red sundown glint on the chrome
and on our naked arms".
Excellent. Feel free to join the Winklings. We could do with this style!
Lyndon of the Winklings. 
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LOL. Thank you for the invitation.
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Any time!
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Excellent! I simply loved this. ~Pamela
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I'm glad.
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What imagery! The final 3 lines superb,
"two inches on a map
is forever
on a blue highway"
I am speechless.
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Oh! I like these old time history lessons. I never knew that about blue lines and I live here in the US. This is great as you have captured the feeling of the 50s and you brought me there with you.
Love,
Amera
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My goodness, a trip right out of the fifties across route 66..Excellentrous and fabulistic.
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If you ever have to motor West -
Take my way, that's the highway that's the best.
Get your kicks, on Route 66
I am glad you like it. And my gratefulivity for the neologous adjectivation!
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i like it alot the highways in the US have a sense of freedom and in the west a sense of isolation too, broad emptiness of deserts and distant mountains, captured so well here and those big trucks and semi's will get your attention so true...wonderful...PK
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I am glad you like it 'Skid... although I think I traduced the '57 Chevy by implying that its seats were anything but leather. I just wanted to be able to write a poem that had the word Naugahyde in it!
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You make the journey sound like heaven..however tedious it is in real life...imagery everything.
All the best...Sue
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This is excellent--evocative, atmospheric and with a real command of American idiom and style. I love it!
Bill
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I have to love this one
You took me home again. If you pay attention, the desert is alive with a thousand little adventures playing out. For a different slant, read my, The Pioneer. My 57 Bel Air was forest and lime green. Wonderful write.
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I'll gladly go read that, 'Rider. The 57 Bel Air was possibly the most beautiful-looking car ever made.
Thank you.
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I'm glad my entry is rubbish! Whatever I FV would lose to this, it is superb.
(I had to say that Allan has stolen Not bad!!!)
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Who said yours was rubbish? You want me to part their hair with a peat shovel for you?
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Excellent! I like this a lot.
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One person says "not bad", another person says "excellent" - I'm on a roll!
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Not bad.
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Not a bad comment - thanks for the bunnies.
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