The Trip
There are those rare days
when you will take off from work
and all your obligations
to drive 45 miles with me
to buy one piece of pie.
In that one drive
I forget that
you no longer talk to me
you no longer touch me
and I forget
that we live like cordial
roommates
ones who share the care of two
little ones.
I remember why we
celebrate an October day.
Why I chose you
I can again see us traveling this road
together
forever.
I listen to you laugh
at the all-comedy channel
on the radio.
The warmth of it spreads
down to my core
Then the ride is over.
I can no longer see a
future with us together
and we go back to our
cordial existence.
it leaves me heartbroken and
angry.
heidi
written 4/27/13 for dVerse Poetics
Karin Gustafsen at dVerse has issued a challenge to write about a trip.
There are those rare days
when you will take off from work
and all your obligations
to drive 45 miles with me
to buy one piece of pie.
In that one drive
I forget that
you no longer talk to me
you no longer touch me
and I forget
that we live like cordial
roommates
ones who share the care of two
little ones.
I remember why we
celebrate an October day.
Why I chose you
I can again see us traveling this road
together
forever.
I listen to you laugh
at the all-comedy channel
on the radio.
The warmth of it spreads
down to my core
Then the ride is over.
I can no longer see a
future with us together
and we go back to our
cordial existence.
it leaves me heartbroken and
angry.
heidi
written 4/27/13 for dVerse Poetics
Karin Gustafsen at dVerse has issued a challenge to write about a trip.
Cordial isn't bad.
ReplyDeleteCan be very comforting.
What kind of pie warrants that long a drive?
This was inspired by a place called Pie Lab in Greensboro,AL. The profits go to a local agency that provides services for people living in rural areas with low incomes. I pass it whenever I am traveling from my house to my parents' house, We went today for the first time. All they had left was pineapple coconut...it's probably better if you get there sooner. I am not a coconut pie kind of woman. (I was hoping for some strawberry-rhubarb.) And the ride isn't bad.,. it's mostly farms with cows and horses grazing and little country stores, and hills.
DeleteThis sounds like things aren't goiing so well. A bad trip, you might say.
ReplyDeleteExcellent write, though!
Thank you Charles. A bad trip indeed...
Deleteugh, this is like a twist in the gut by the end...so still see those glimmers of something greater, yet faced with a reality much colder...felt piece...
ReplyDeleteThank you Brian.
DeleteOh dear. Very sad - wonderful details - the whole idea of trip for pie trying to recapture some other sweetness. k.
ReplyDeleteThank you Karin. I am glad that you like it. I really liked this prompt.
DeleteThat's a sad drive... looking for chance to rekindle but have travelled too far apart...an evocative write!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I am glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteThat is a sad ending ~ Too bad the cordial relations didn't last after the ride ~
ReplyDeleteHi Grace! Thank you for the visit.
DeleteVery sad,very real and very well written!
ReplyDeleteHeidi - loved the idea of traveling together for a piece of pie - but then the sadness and resignation of the relationship - heartbreaking. K
ReplyDeleteThank you, I am glad that you liked it.
DeleteHi Heidi, a sad trip nicely presented, the reader rides along with you. The hope and memory of an anniversary, the seeking of pie together (for a moment the old selves). Nicely done. - kat/@BeingMama
ReplyDeleteThanks you
DeleteAlmost worse, those moments when you can see what was, and remember...this is very atmospheric, layered, clean and crisp without being sentimental, yet emotionally pitch perfect...I too, would love a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie, even if discovered with someone I was entirely over. ;_)
ReplyDeleteThank you hedgewitch! I have been looking for a recipe for strawberry rhubarb because I can't find it anywhere.
DeleteAn emotional write from the heart, with hurt and anger, and some confusion I'm sure. A 'cordial existence' might work for some; others can never settle for that. Thankfully, a poem of the future for this couple still has time to be written.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope that it works out for them!
DeleteIt's sad how a relationship can drift apart, especially once children are born... and even simple pleasures like going for pie only bring memories of what once was.
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie! Thank you for the visit.
DeleteYou have described the state of the relationship today so very vividly. So sad when you think back and remember what once was. So sad when you find you have driven that distance and there isn't even a good pie flavor to have made the silent drive worth while.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary! Thank you!
DeleteThat is one lonely ride..together..but, separate
ReplyDeleteThank you Truedessa!
Deleteoh heck..that breaks my heart as well...sounds like there were such possibilities and somehow got lost on the way...ugh....not easy...
ReplyDeleteHi Claudia! Thanks for the visit!
DeleteSo sad.. I saw a trip of some hope being crushed by coming home. Maybe leaving again will change the course for the better.
ReplyDeleteMaybe...Thanks for stopping by Bjorn!
DeleteI feel very sorry for you. I pray the two of you can talk it through. I wish you the best of luck.
ReplyDelete╔══╗
╚╗╔╝
╔╝(¯`v´¯)
╚══`.¸.CHRIST †
Hi Anders! Thank you.
DeleteTricky emotions here. Couple having to face that relationships often flicker rather then flame
ReplyDeleteThanks John, it is a sad story.
DeleteThis really strikes me - I certainly have experienced that cordial turn in a relationship. Well expressed Heidi.
ReplyDeletea trip many of us take and recover from in varying degrees...but it's sweet to share something in spite of the divide or fork in the road ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you kkkkaty!
Delete