Just Passing Through Poem by Cj Heck

There’s a day that lingers in my mind
and I can still taste the gritty dust
blowing hot on a summer day

I had stopped for gas at a truck stop,
nowhere important,
just going from here to there
but there he was
by the side of the road
and walking toward me
in run down leather boots
the wind in his hair
the sun on his face
and squinting through ice blue eyes

When he caught me staring
he touched a finger to the hat
cocked slightly to one side
and threw me a wink
and then a crooked smile

He was tall
the long legs
propelling him in bowed strides
that reinvented the swaggery strut
and as he passed by
my eyes were drawn to the tight jeans
and the perfect ass that filled them

He wasn’t Marlboro Man handsome
but rugged and muscular
and perfectly packaged in a plaid shirt
with little pearl snaps
and rolled up sleeves

my emotions ran high
and I’ll never forget that day
by the side of the road
when I fell in lust
with a stranger I never met,
someone just passing through