How The Adventurer in Me Died Behind 5 Bars

Alan Berecka

October 6, 2022

I held out for years. “But you

drive so far to work, what if

you breakdown or have a flat,” 

my wife would say. “In 1492

Columbus sailed the ocean blue

without a cellphone,” I’d reply.

“I’m sure your random knowledge

of heroic couplets and bad actors

will come in handy in the middle

of nowhere should you have a wreck

on those backroads you take,” she’d scoff.

“Life is a grand adventure, and I’m off,”

I’d shout and head for the door.

But somewhere along the line

as my testosterone levels waned

her refrain morphed into common sense, 

so now I live under the safety of a net-

work of cell towers strewn across

the desolate south Texas landscape,

and I keep roadside support programmed

into speed dial just in case, just in case...

Alan Berecka earns a living as a reference librarian at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. His poetry has appeared in many journals including The Concho River Review, The Windward Review, Ruminate, and The Christian Century. In 2017 he was named the first Poet Laureate of Corpus Christi.