ON THE ROAD, FALL 2001

Thanks for Traveling! reads the sign
at the rest stop welcome center,
so it seems I’m performing
a patriotic duty these days, by getting 
behind the wheel despite the threat of terror,
omnipresent since the towers fell.
But if I didn’t travel, if I didn’t squeeze in
to park among the burger wrappers,
the cigarette butts and the splashes of vomit;
if I didn’t scatter crumbs for the sparrows,
spill the last drops of coffee from the thermos
onto my lap, and refill the tank—
how then would I ever get to see you,
my old darlings?

Ruth Holzer is the author of nine chapbooks, most recently, “Float” (Kelsay Books) and “Home and Away” (dancing girl press). Her poems have appeared in Blue Unicorn, California Quarterly, Freshwater, Journal of New Jersey Poets, POEM, Slant and elsewhere. A multiple Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, among her awards are the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Prize, the Tanka Splendor Award and the Ito En Art of Haiku Contest Grand Prize.