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Sunday, November 24, 2019

SAY HIS NAME













He is heading out
for open road,
 big rig humming.

Thanksgiving morning.
The day is crisp and clear.

He will eat his holiday dinner
at some truck stop,
where his banter with the waitress--
a kindred spirit--
will be about keeping the world running
while the rest of 'em
spend the day gettin' fat and happy.

In a while,
he will put in a call to Janie and the kids.
They'll be over at mom's today.
In their pre-meal prayer,
they will say his name.

And yes, he is thankful.
Hell...lucky to have a job at all
the way things are going.

The road snakes on to somewhere
anywhere
nowhere.

And the holiday travelers
blow past him,
just another obstacle
in the way
on the way
to their overindulgence.

He remembers how,
in the beginning,
he thought this would be
a romantic kind of life.
But as he looks out now,
across the endless expanse,
he is struck by the thought
that it's kinda like
gazing at the moon
in daylight.



62 comments:

  1. Absolutely LOVE your closing lines in this piece. I KNOW what that feels like. I too have thought life would the road would be ideal...but I think we do tend to covet what we don't understand. The thought of being at the table for holiday feasts in prayers and spirit only is enough to convince me I'd never make it through such an existence. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, food, and fun!

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  2. i feel him...i used to travel all the time and missed much of life when i did ...it was romantic for a bit getting to see the world but doing it alone is no where near as fun...

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  3. you captured that loneliness so well tim...though i have to admit it always seems there is a certain romantic on a life like this..gazing at the moon in daylight..underlines it perfectly..the feeling of being kept away from life

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  4. Great capture of romance gone sour:
    "it's kinda like
    gazing at the moon
    in daylight"

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  5. Nice capture of a human experience most of us have contemplated.

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  6. this reminds me of my husbands grandpa... he drove all his life. I always wanted to try it!

    Kellie
    http://magicinthebackyard.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/hard-cider/

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  7. I too felt that I was drawn into the romantic view of the job and liked how the narrator reminds us at the end that it's not. And yet, the moon in daylight is an interesting sight, unexpected and special...just not at all shiny.

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  8. Great work--this piece feels lonely to me--beautifully written--and I love your last stanza

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  9. I love this poem! I feel the sense of loneliness and isolation, like the rest of the world exists in a separate space. I love the last lines, the romanticized notion of the life we thought we were going to have and the reality of life.

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  10. I have seen those big truckers and trailers...indeed it a hard and long job. Great capture of the reality of work..."road snakes" got my attention ~

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  11. "He remembers how,
    in the beginning,
    he thought this would be
    a romantic kind of life."

    A reflection many have, in many different points of life I do believe...a very lonely poem, and an experience well-penned.

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  12. Very reflective. Yes, thankful for a job in this economy for sure, but always away from family. I love your choice of metaphor in the last stanza comparing to "gazing at the moon in daylight."

    A subtle way to remind us to be grateful and say Thank You to those who will work on Thanksgiving. Very thought provoking, thanks for sharing this.

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  13. Great capture...he is struck by the thought
    that it's kinda like
    gazing at the moon
    in daylight !

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  14. Wow, this one is deeply felt, Timoteo. I can see that trucker, hear his hearty laugh - and I LOVE "it's kinda like gazing at the moon in daylight". A soulful write.

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  15. Gazing at the moon in day light.. what a wonderful imagery... could relate to this so much...

    Shashi
    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/11/whispers-sighs.html
    At Twitter @VerseEveryDay

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  16. this is great for all that it suggests - the closing lines are fantastic and my pa is a trucker - so i pretty much tuned in to all; i'm honking (in many ways lol)

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  17. Thanks for the warm wishes, NATASHA!
    BRIAN, CLAUDIA, SHAWNA, CRYSTAL: I too once contemplated this type of life, but you'll never be healthy eating truck stop food!
    MAGIC, KATHY, DIVALOUNGER, SEEK THE SUN: We've all looked up to see the moon in daylight at times, and it loses its luster, doesn't it?
    Thanks for coming, HEAVEN!
    Good to see you here, CHRIS G.
    GINNY: Being in radio, I worked every major holiday for most of my life, because the show must go on. So I can identify with those road warriors out there!
    SHERRY...SHERRY BAYBEE...SHE-ER-EEEE...
    Thanks so much, AYALA AND SHASHI.
    ARRON:Thanks for the honk. How about a bumper sticker: HONK IF YOU LOVE POETRY!

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  18. I really love the last two lines..."gazing at the moon in daylight"...I'll be at work tomorrow too, but I'm thankful that I love my job and those I get to work with. It'll almost be like spending it with family, almost :) Happy Thanksgiving!

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  19. Ah, nice one...what a way to spend Thanksgiving!

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  20. This is a wonderful piece. I like the simplicity of it and the deftness in capturing this man's feelings and so much more, the economy and what this man must do to take care of his family, what it costs him and them. I'm struck by how much you conveyed with what seems like ease.

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  21. His Name WOW, I had the wrong bblog...stuck on a really old one...hadn't refreshed it, my apologies

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  22. Great piece... and the close is brilliant.

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  23. Nicely driven story. I began to feel maybe it was an escape. I felt the windows open and loved the final line.

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    Replies
    1. Always enjoy swapping puns with you, Colleen :)

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  24. I can see him, in his rig and I LOVE those closing lines.

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    1. Everything looks different in the harsh light of day.

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  25. Great tribute to the hard working.

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  26. Yes, those closing lines are brilliant. I don't think I've ever really seen how life must be for long distance truck drivers - many sacrifices required.

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    1. Loneliness being the major one, I would think.

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  27. This is a wonderful poem... somehow i think a poem like this explains the result in the election than most things I have read.

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    1. Interesting take...gotta reflect on that one!

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  28. Nice capture of a trucker's refection, out on the road

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  29. I know a man who left the corporate world for driving a semi - he loved it. And many families celebrate the day after holidays - we have done so many a time as not everyone has holidays off. It's all in how you approach life, I guess.

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    1. I know what you mean, Margaret. For decades I worked every holiday there was, unless it happened to fall on my day off. The celebrating gets lost in the shuffle when everyone else has already celebrated by the time you are ready :)

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  30. One of my grandfathers was a truck driver, and so I had his image in my mind here as I read..I imagine Thanksgivings of the past may have been a bit like this for him. It seems there is always a bit of sadness with each holiday we celebrate -- but maybe that is, as you say, because we romanticize life. Your ending lines are beautiful and hold so much truth, we gaze up at that moon and imagine so many things. I wonder if my grandfather (passed 20 yrs now, when I was a child) -- looked up at that moon and dreamed too. I hope so. Thanks for sharing. :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Stacie. You always add so much to the conversation!

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  31. Wow, this is epic, Timo. Love it.

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  32. Echoing the wows--this is a great poem.

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  33. In Oz a truckie is king of the road and can terrify all the geriatrics who drive slowly with care by tail gating them especially when there is nowhere to turn off. I wish them all a life sentence condemned to the wearing of suits and ties in an office.... a dingy one !

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    1. Your wit and sarcasm shine! Reminding us that there are two ways (at least) to look at everything.

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  34. I read it again.. and loved it even more this time. We don't have Thanksgiving, but I have seen and wondered of those working at Christmas as this would be a bit the same. Having to drive that truck, or the subway, to be a police or a nurse. There are all those people working for us.

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    1. Thanks so much. I was one of those who worked all the holidays, so I have a special affinity for our truck driver!

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  35. The closing reads like the kind of sigh that leaves the soul after a few lifetimes.

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  36. Rather heroic, those kings of the open road, missing holiday dinners with their family as the highway unfurls before them. You made me see him!

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    1. Thank you, Sherry. It's all summed up in the phrase, "The show must go on!"

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  37. I too could see him traveling the highways during the holidays. I imagine it would be rough and lonely at times. Most travelers are driving to a destination to be with family and friends and this driver is driving away as work paves the way.

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    1. Holidays can be a lonely time. He's one of many in different circumstances. :)

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  38. Yes, vividly conveyed. I've known a few truckers; I think you got it right.

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    1. There is a lure of the open road, which I experienced quite strongly in the younger days. This is the other side of it.

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  39. Great poem, Tim! Who thinks of the long-distance truck drivers while they’re busy enjoying a holiday? I love the shift in gear from the hopeful cheerfulness of the opening stanzas to the final stanza.

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    1. Thanks so much, Kim! No, most of us don't think of much else than stuffing our faces and hitting the punch bowl during the holidays!

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  40. Nice lines: "just another obstacle
    in the way
    on the way
    to their overindulgence."

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  41. All jobs become bland/stale after awhile, no matter how exciting they start out.

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    1. Except for the fact that some jobs are more interesting and more fun and don't seem like work while some are pure drudgery, you are right! :)

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