Hitchhike(r)

She walks alone on the edge
Of a one-lane road that winds  
Through hills on either side,
Cut off from the last pueblo,
 
Carpeted with wild flowers,
Yellow, thinning as they spoil
Dying from their spring riot.  
 
The day’s heat is tempered
By a still-life vista of  
Paint-brushed clouds aloft.
 
Van Gogh’s touch giving shade  
To the hiker turning
In the breathless air.
 
A junkyard pickup skids,
Gravel spraying, pelting
And idles, creaking, waiting.  
 
In a rocking motion
The door hinge’s rusting pop  
Swings wide a smell of hooch.
 
A black Lab crouches low,  
Its yellow stare
And tail wagging slow.  
 
Driver’s shadow-figure leans  
To sharply bark a command
"Cutter, GIT!”
 
The young woman squints  
Behind her Ray-bans,  
Wary to chance it on foot.  
 
I'm a girl, he owns a dog.  
He’ll protect me as night falls.  
 
Assured, she pulls herself in.  
The engine roars, tires spin,
 
They’re hurtled down the road
Toward the raised horizon
As the driver howls with force.
 
She leans out the window,
Hanging on tight to the dog  
Under her arm, long hair flows
 
Across the Lab’s sloped head,  
His ears & tongue flap from  
Gale-forced wind cutting through
 
The intangible of  
A blurred flight’s vision,
Till comes the new moon night
Of an unwise decision.


Copyright©️Jade Pandora 2018.  All Rights Reserved.