Sometimes a driver dies in his truck. And not in some crash on some highway. But dies in his sleep. At some truck stop. And maybe he’s not found for four or five days. After he stops calling his wife. After he fails to deliver his load. And really nobody’s in a hurry to find […]
Category Archives: Books
Out there on the edge of Kansas, satellites fall through the sky
Monday, February 23, 2015
It’s a strange thing, dying on the Interstate. All the angry people honking their horns, in such a hurry to get to where they have to go. And the State Troopers, with their stern faces and flashing blue lights, blocking the lanes. And tenderly covering you with a green blanket.
An Idaho Beauty Queen Working a Washington Truck Stop
Thursday, February 12, 2015
She stares out the window, pretending to control the weather. I take another hit. Pretend to order a pizza. There’s a flutter in my chest, like I just missed a breath. I would pretend to go to a doctor. But I know what I’ll be told. And the Netflix plays on and on.
Welcome to McDonald’s
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Hauling the recently harvested out of Nebraska. Their blood draining from the back of my trailer. The passing cars baptized by the pink mist of their future value meals.
Because cops are lazy. And can’t spell good.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Tensions ran high at the Ogden Flying J as two drivers exchanged blows in the middle of the parking lot earlier tonight. Truck stop employees tried valiantly to stop the fight but it quickly became clear that they were out of their element. Local police were called on the 911, tearing a deputy sheriff away […]
How my student loans will kill me
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Three in the morning. On a Wednesday. In the middle of Nebraska. In a shallow ditch. $40,000 short.
Keokuk, Iowa
Friday, October 12, 2012
This cold front’s been chasing me since Salt Lake City. Walmart. Always Walmart. Up and over Donner Pass. That place of American failure. Eat your children in order to live. Walmart. Always Walmart. My lips haven’t been warm since they touched yours. This cold front caught up to me in Muncie. And it’s been raining […]
Saint James, Missouri
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Two in the morning and running late. Always running late. Destination: A charcoal factory in the middle of nowhere. Charcoal factories are always in the middle of nowhere. Winding down narrow county roads. You’re lucky you get any charcoal at all. For your Fourth of July barbecue. Black mist covers cracked concrete, kicks into the […]
Grand Island, Nebraska
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Night. Morning. Drunks leaving the bar. Black sky. No moon, no stars. 455 empty miles. That we call Nebraska. Heading to the ocean as slow as I can. No water in sight, west of Grand Island. Red and blue lights strobing and flashing. A big truck on its side, leaking diesel. Driver nowhere to be […]
Barstow, California
Monday, April 9, 2012
Over the desert and through the mountains. Heading to LA. That seething pit of humanity. There is no poetry on this road. The new moon a hole in the sky. All those dead stars clinging to life. Your face just beyond the high beams. The same song playing again on the radio. Static on the […]