Monitor Road

a Sunday bicycle ride

Monitor Road

The corn stands tall and proud in private fields

and crickets sit at their bases 

singing hallelujahs in the humid afternoon light

Dragonflies chase mosquitoes and helicopter high into the sky

Cicada buzz and stop, buzz and stop, letting us know they have

escaped another jay

Along Monitor Road

Gravel plays tricks with grasshopper legs and

bicycle tires catching ruts and trenches and ridges

Wild asparagus ferns grow tall along the sedges 

and equine grasses feeding deer

Hemp and Helianthus stand along the corn 

decorating in green fringe and yellow crowns

Along Monitor Road

Deep thunder of the train vibrates the ground

echos ultrasound through earth causing

doves to take to wing and air

A caterpillar makes a determined march across

warm mountains of gravel 

thirty miniature feet moving as quickly as they can 

while risking life and limbs exposed to hunters 

looking for a bright yellow meal 

Along Monitor Road

Fresh mown field grasses are laid to rest 

skirting the edges of dirt road, back road

hemming ditches

throwing sweet honeyed dust scent to the air

Along Monitor Road

The meadowlark calls from overhead

bird on hot thin naked wire

A family of woodpeckers play tour guide

mounting and dismounting along the line of power poles 

scouting on ahead and calling us on as they chat amongst themselves

A vulture circles overhead anticipating our demise?

as we make this dusty trip

Swallow and swifts weave and bob and waltz on air 

Along Monitor Road

Feed lot cattle munching straw ends and resting in dirt 

stand to attention to watch newcomers pass fences 

perk up ears, switch their tales and toss their heads as if to ask

Got Grain?

Sparsely set houses are guarded by faithful canines

announcing to the world we approach 

they threaten, hackles up

Along Monitor Road

Another Sunday bicycle ride

Another afternoon making our own breeze

on a hot summer day 

Another trip to a slower pace in a quieter place 

on the outskirts of a city just a few short miles away

On Monitor Road

© Debra Jean Roberts 08282011