Some words for the week

the canyon drive

my sisyphean uphill crawl

that I’ve been doing

since I had my own car

and in the passenger seat

or the booster before that

almost thirty years

of these 88 curves

and 18 miles

stuck behind Texas plates

or a foot deep in snow

way before dawn

headed to the airport

or after a night shift

shooting through the dark

turning off the brights

for deer and other things

awake at odd hours

up and down and up and

down

and up

away from the world

and the jobs

and the cheap gas

and the one I love

into the wind off the lake

past where the cops hide

between the slow

and the welcome signs

into the glimmer of First

Street

into the unfurled unfettered

forever

of forest

of fresh air

of sky strung stars

Alexander Shalom Joseph is a writer from Gilpin County. He is a published author. For more information and to subscribe to Alexander’s Newsletter go to alexandershalomjoseph.com