Written in the Road
JESSICA NENO CLOUD
May 14, 2020
I am writing this poem
In the middle of the road
Around 10:15 at night
I've written others on my driveway
With kid's bikes circling
But never before have I stood
Casually
Distractedly
Brazenly
In the middle of the road
Tapping on my phone and occasionally
Succumbing to the nervous wondering
Is someone coming up fast behind me?
Few are on the roads, so they don’t bother
Obeying the stop sign anymore
And have given up even the pretense of slowing down
Our little lane is ironically a drag strip
At the same time, it’s never been so safe
I walk toe to heel, slinking
Peering down my street
And spy a cat
Strolling similarly
Because he can
My husband hollers
What are you doing in the road?
Because I can
That’s not his question
I rephrase
Writing a poem here, because I can
I’d like to slow-dance in the middle of
Hardy street before all of this is over
C’mon, you know
People race down Hardy now
That’d be a death wish
There's a half-moon over the magnolia tree
You can’t write that if you’re a Mississippi poet
That’d be like writing about the stars falling on Alabama
But half-moon over magnolias it is
The phone dies
So I go inside, heat up leftover banana nut bread,
And put fudge ripple on top
Because I can
JESSICA NENO CLOUD is a poet, mama of two wild things, and higher education fundraiser who lives in Hattiesburg, MS. She earned a Master of Arts degree in English literature from the University of Southern Mississippi. You can read more of her work on her Instagram page @jessicacloudpoetry.
