Sleeve Notes [Incomplete]

Son Volt: Trace

1.

The wind never took my trouble, but
the lilt & lift of a pedal steel can ease
about anything
a temporary take-away, but
a transport does not transform.

2.

I have seen so many smiles
through a cell phone—
the freedom that binds
across the miles. Each morning
I call in hope that your voice might
send the song that makes the day.

3.

Sometimes I cry the drive for
imperceptible reasons
in the road-noise solitude
of fifty-two morning miles.
If the saints are listening they
don’t hold back the flood.

4.

The cloud banks are not
pillars of inspiration, but
heavy heads hoping
for a spring release.
The route I take, right as rain,
is reversed to get home.

5.

No billboard signs, but
the one that never changes,
the one that counts
one Kansas farmer
feeds 124 (and you?).
Only you’ll ever know.

6.

I'm still waiting for the sky to crack open.