You Are Driving
/Cassie Premo Steele
You are driving from now on
to the place beyond the maps
where there are no paths
and no police can follow you
because roads have no rules
and concrete is not allowed
and speed signs are not posted
because who knows how fast
you’re going when your eyes
are closed and the only exit
signs are those you paint
yourself with the colors of
what you imagine is possible
behind the wheel of your mind
and the body doesn’t mind
because she signed on long
ago to go along for the ride
and you realize you have arrived
since this road is all there is.
Author’s Note: "You Are Driving" was written during the pandemic year when my wife and I largely stayed in lockdown for the good of our health and the health of those around us, despite local ordinances that allowed free movement. One day, though, I had an intense urge to get in the car and drive. So I did. This poem came out after I looped back home after a hundred miles and realized that it was not an exterior road I was craving but a new way of being within myself - without the old maps.
Cassie Premo Steele, Ph.D., is the author of 16 books, including 6 books of poetry, and her poetry has been nominated 6 times for the Pushcart Prize. She is a recipient of The Archibald Rutledge Prize and The John Edward Johnson Prize, as well as the Carrie McCray Literary Award for Poetry. She was a Finalist for the Rita Dove Poetry Award judged by the current US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo. She lives with her wife in Columbia, South Carolina. Her website is www.cassiepremosteele.com
