Poem: "Crooked, Winding, Lonesome, Dangerous"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem came out of the March 1, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from siliconshaman. It also fills the "Crooked" square in my 3-1-22 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. This poem belongs to the Daughters of the Apocalypse series.


"Crooked, Winding, Lonesome, Dangerous"

[Longer Days Moon 1, 15 A.E.]

The road crews go out
as soon as the weather
allows it in the spring.

In some places, there
isn't much left of the roads.

People do what they can
to keep them open.

The signs are worse,
old and faded and
mostly out of date.

So while the tar and
gravel crew fills the holes,
the graffiti team works
on the fading signs.

Where they can't
salvage the signs,
they make new ones
on buildings or even
abandoned vehicles.

The writing is crooked
but the words are straight.

Graffiti tells people where
it's safe to go and where it's not,
which settlements still have
people and which have
been abandoned.

The artists are gone,
but art remains, rustic
and powerful, like
the wild dandelions
growing in the cracks.

The world is broken,
but it is still beautiful.

All the roads are crooked,
winding, lonesome, dangerous,
but even so they lead up to
the most amazing view.

The mountains rise
above the clouds.

* * *

Notes:

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds."
-- Edward Abbey

March -- Longer Days Moon (Wishram)

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