Today: the midwest - leaving Columbus, OH in mid morning thru a light rain & gray air - backwaters from big Sciota River churning past an industrial site - as yesterday the gray air between Lakewood & Columbus seemed moist & chilled with ghosts while the car stereo blasts Patti Smith Group Easter - the tracery of deciduous trees against a low sky - a red & weathered empty car carrier rattling between a red tractor truck on I-70 - the corn stubble & rusted silos in Indiana - Wabash River - a Covington Diner: Walleye Sandwich/Liver & Onions/Gyros/BBQ Sandwich & fries - the older couple drinking pink lemonade & smoking cigarettes - a felt cowboy hat a pair of suspenders a gumball machine - abandoned farm buildings along the interstates - turning north on I-39 & a piano version of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" on the radio as Illinois rolls past - the corn stubble & leafless maple trees flow across the state lines - so I ask myself about the joy & sadness I've met crossing the country - "we are the tears that fall from your eye" - the lines & Vs of Canada geese wheeling in waves above a Wisconsin farm - an old farm house with green tin roof tilted by the northern weather - the clear air the chill in the air the orange sunset - the lives we've all lived the puzzles we're all untangling as the orange air diffuses somewhere past the northern prairies....