It takes seconds to forget the road,
my husband’s attention distracted by
potato chip delights (like snowflakes
no two land on the fingertips alike)
as we navigate Missouri landscapes
through snow pillows sculpted by wind.
seconds to do a one-eighty,
skid on the slick road ice-sheeted
as a river – visions of home
now littered with tattered limbs
smashed like potato chip crumbs –
to a momentary destiny in a ditch.
seconds to catch our breaths,
a young farmer arrives,
boy-scout-prepared for instant action
with ballast and chains in the bed
of his four wheel drive pickup.
“You folks need help?” he asks.
seconds to nod yes,
he hooks our black VW dinghy
to his great white GMC lifeboat,
and tows us back to the icy flow.
“What’s neighbors for anyway?”
he dismisses tendered thanks, departs.
until seconds expand to minutes.
Once more alert and face-first, we continue
homeward along wind-buffeted highways
to crash into pillows and duvets
mounded like snowdrifts but warm
and nibble on our chips in peace.
~ Karin L. Frank
Karin L. Frank is an award-winning author from the Kansas City area. Her poems and prose have been published in both literary journals and genre magazines in the U.S. and abroad.
James Benger is a father, husband and writer. His work has been featured in several publications. He is the author of two fiction ebooks: Flight 776 (2012) and Jack of Diamonds (2013), and two chapbooks of poetry: As I Watch You Fade (EMP 2016) and You’ve Heard It All Before (GigaPoem 2017). He is a member of the Riverfront Readings Committee in Kansas City, and is the founder of the 365 Poems In 365 Days online poetry workshop and is Editor In Chief of the subsequent anthology series. He lives in Kansas City with his wife and son.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 