- write4hire
“American Beauty”
Updated: Dec 29, 2021

Side 2; Track 1
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We cross paths on this narrow country road, early afternoon, maybe a half mile before the dead end, she in the blue Outback, me in the red Tacoma, nothing moving between
the trees but our two cars, no wind, no pebbles
skidding onto the dark rippling surface
of the shale pond we just passed from opposite
directions, undulations of breath mixing
in the breathless autumn air, still fluttering later
in the evening as we sink back into the couch
at arm’s length, fingers entwined, a hush wafting
across this once noisy living room, cross-currents
of voices, soft thump of a vaporous base guitar
in the still still air, hours after I watched the blue
Outback in the side view mirror, turning at the mail-
box, disappearing into orange woods, down the long
shale drive, a silenced crunch of gravel rolling up
to the yellow house, my lips tingling from a kiss, Vilas
Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin, November 1967, when
I brake at the STOP sign, Springtown Road, clicker
on, breath tremulous as a silver van whooshes by.