poet, interviewer, musician, traveler
Buddha beside the highway
US 17 South
near Remington, Virginia
suddenly he’s there
in a glass box as large as a house
looking out serenely over the highway
spotlights above & below
who put him there?
who pays the electric bill?
who knew there’d be a Buddhist
in a van on this of all nights
needing a little reassurance
on the highway?
/ / /
6 July 2021
Greensboro VT
(recalling something I saw early in my van life)
Leave a Commentmovement
late in the afternoon on an early May day
the dance unfolds across the house
an essay at the kitchen table
grilling meat on the upstairs porch
one makes a slingshot
another searches frantically for
spare headphones because
who can live without music
the dog naps with a belly full of chicken
the cats naps with a belly full of mystery
one of the Marley kids is singing
through the Bluetooth speaker
I’m writing a poem, trying to freeze
a moment already lost to swift time
/ / /
6 May 2021
Greensboro Bend VT
a poem for myself
I’m driving through Virginia
listening to Tommy Emmanuel
on a playlist I made in different times
I was going to write this poem about you
but I decided to write it about me instead
because I need to take back your space
in my head
you used to say you liked my singing
well I like my singing too
& lots of people could love a weathered guy
who sings “King Of Wishful Thinking”
at the top of his voice
as he passes one semi after another
I’m starting to believe this road
could take me somewhere better
& in any case this is a real good playlist
/ / /
12 April 2021
Verona VA
for me
real Georgia hospitality
the first one brought me to a garage
near a grocery store
the second to a garage
near a few restaurants
one asked if I had a way to heat the van
the other made sure he found me a level place
both got me out of the rain
made sure I was safe
for no other reason than being good people
my friend said people will show you
their humanity once they see yours
he’s right & that’s what I hold onto
when the rain comes
/ / /
10 April 2021
Newnan GA
for my two tow truck drivers
beside the road, a sign:
WRONG DIRECTION?
GOD ALLOWS U-TURNS
suddenly I have tears in my eyes
if only I knew where I was headed
a few miles later the desert opens
pours away like an ocean over the horizon
don’t give your energy to fear, she says
as I have tears in my eyes again
but who will love me, I ask her
there are more things to love than just people
she tells me from a few feet away
(there’s a woodpecker in the trees)
later, driving away, I see it
a flash of white wings as it dips in front of me
I’m headed to a camping spot, alone
later still I build a fire
the rain comes shortly after
my eyes burn from the smoke
///
25 March 2021
Rothrock State Forest
Going Over San Augustin Pass
there’s a moment as the highway curves
when it looks like you’ll disappear
off the end of the Earth
lost in a pale blue sky from which
there is no returning
in the next moment you’re over the pass
spreading out before you is a basin so large
it’s as if the ground and sky switched places
far off in the distance
the pastel shadows of mountains
like an artist’s rendering
/ / /
26 February 2021
near Las Cruces, New Mexico
February night —
like static between stations:
the waves in the cove
///
7 February 2021
south of Mendocino CA
Salton Sea Serenade
unknown birds sing a
Salton Sea serenade
as I squish my Crocs
through unexpected mud
later I’ll wash it off
but just for a moment
— right now —
this beach and I are one
Mardi Gras Mambo Renge Kyo!
///
24 January 2021
Niland CA
Thanks to Jim Macnie for the last line.
Leave a Commentwatch cattle grazing
feel my heartbeat start to slow
: a morning lesson
///
22 January 2021
Catalina AZ
sunshine, wild horses
“you’ll for sure poop in your van”
: Ironwood Forest
/ / /
16 January 2021
Ironwood Forest National Monument
Arizona
crisp new year morning:
I sit zazen beside the
Little Cahaba
/ / /
3 January 2021
Birmingham, AL
ravens launch from the rocks
as the sun burns off the mist;
snow in the desert
/ / /
Jason Crane
2 December 2020
north of Charrizozo, NM
Oasis
It’s such a cliché even Looney Tunes covered it:
the desperate man in the desert, crawling toward water.
In the cartoon he usually dives into the pond
to find only sand where he sought salvation.
Me, I’ll be driving a minivan to the water’s edge,
and I’m fairly certain it’s actually there. At least
as certain as we can be of anything in these times.
At some point you have to ask yourself why you move.
What possible promise could await over the horizon?
Does forty degrees of longitude matter that much?
I’ll be the judge of that, says the little voice in my head.
I don’t trust that voice any further than I could throw it,
which is no distance at all if past is any kind of prologue.
“Go east, middle-aged man” doesn’t have the same ring to it
as the other, more famous phrase, but what the hell.
YOLO and whatnot. The tank is full, the nose is pointed
toward the rising sun. I have nothing to lose but my chains.
And probably some engine parts I can’t identify.
Save me a spot on the dunes.
/ / /
Jason Crane
25 October 2020
Tucson, AZ
Eat At Joe’s
we slept in the back of our
Honda Fit across the road
from a swanky bed & breakfast
a ridge across the middle of the car
kept either of us from sleeping soundly
while birds with laser guns warred in the trees
I don’t wear underwear & I’m too overweight
to change in the car so at one point
I was naked on the gravel at Parsons Marsh
we started on the road trip with -$100
in the bank and $100 in my pocket
enough for gas, one meal at the Heritage
& then some bread, cheese & pepperoni
to eat on a blanket in the car
faces lit from time to time by passing headlights
in the morning we ate omelets at Joe’s Diner
the one from the Rockwell painting with the cop
& the kid who should have been allowed to escape
there was a signed photo of John Williams on the wall
which reminded me that I first saw Star Wars
at a drive-in not too far from here
now: a coffee shop eavesdropping on the locals
picking out the ones we want to befriend
when we finally escape PA & move here
///
Jason Crane
10 May 2019
Lenox, MA
Note: It turns out I wrote a poem with this same title back in 2012.
Leave a CommentA 90-second video essay made of clips from a recent trip to DC with my son John. All video and audio by Jason Crane.
Leave a Comment