AN ODE TO TRUCK DRIVERS

(dedicated to my uncle Mark Nelson)

There are still cowboys
riding the freeways of America:
lonely vaqueros listening to their radios
and pulling mightily at the wheels
of their great steel steeds

some stopping at Nevada Brothels
to meet nature's needs
dreaming of farms, tractors and seeds,
listening to taped college lectures attentively,
praying devoutly,
sketching scenes such as they see in their dreams
or composing poetry

They are men of long distances
and long distance phone calls,
vast ambitions and vast empty spaces:
honest hard workers and travelers
looking homeward
wherever their spinning wheels
may be pointed