The Road We'Re On Poem by Lonnie Hicks

'It's all a road we build'
he said
'you lay down the concrete
or tar for the asphalt;

you heat it
and take it through all the stages
with yellow lines
white lines-
a road has to have
boundaries and destinations.

There are the road signs:
'caution'
'soft shoulder'
'curves ahead'
'pedestrians'
'stop ahead'
'divided highway.'
'no u-turns.'
'highway patrol station

The thought
is whether the road we build
is our own
and whether it leads where we
want to go
and who on the road
we're traveling with.

Just like life.
Up and down hills;
speed bumps
parking lots
long rides

The trick is not to be
a highway statistic
didn't see the stop sign
ran over too many pedestrians.
or a high speed causality
best to hope for soft shoulders
and broad lanes
and the laughter of friends
as the sun shines overhead
taking us
home.