Hi Curly I hear up close
while I'm sipping iced tea to stay awake
at a truck-stop off Interstate 40
I look up and into a man's baby blues
above a matching T-shirt
broadcasting a love of Labrador retrievers
And below a duck-billed John Deere cap
like my dad used to wear
I just gotta know he says
Is your hair naturally that way
Ignoring the lifetime lecture series I taught
my daughters on not talking to strangers
Especially ones having something
to do with puppies or kittens
I return a bucolic smile
and rightful recognition to my beautician
Then sanction myself for assessing the man
the way any Montana-bred woman would
Further affirmed when the waitress
calls him Waltie as she pours his coffee
at the table of cronies he's joined
I practically pat myself on the back
when I overhear their talk of crops and rainfall
When I get up to leave I look over at Waltie
Who winks one of his baby blues
and says I'll never tell, Curly-Q
I hit the road with new-found arousal
having nothing to do with caffeine
It probably won't come up in conversation
with the daughters
(Previously published In Ellaraine's collection Tripping with the Top Down, in 2017)
And into the open air of old Route 66
Where sun waxes their silver three-wheeler
flaunting Florida license plates
Two motorcycle mamas with walkie-talkie
mouthpieces attached to helmets
Grey hairs fringing faces
and breaking free from confines of caution
The driver pumps gasoline
with one tanned and tattooed arm
While a Scottish Terrier wearing sunglasses
and baby blue bandanna
tucks under the other arm
The passenger in the back bucket seat
pats her own lap-lounging terrier
Twin attired in dark glasses and bandanna
Totally content in a doggy-designed seat belt
Ms. Driver positions herself for departure
Fastens her pooch to the uncertain safety
mandated by motorcycles
Secures her partner with a look
that rivals the sun's resplendent rays
And merges into the migration
of Interstate 40 traffic
Terriers positioned like bird dogs
whose compass noses point west
Held by women who have already
discovered their direction
(Previously published In Ellaraine's collection
Tripping with the Top Down, in 2017)
