“The Woman Who Picked Me Up” by Antonia Clark
had slammed on the brakes
of her rusty Dodge, deciding
to pull over, after all
had streaked hair and muddy boots,
a lazy eye and, once in a while,
a wistful look
had a gallon of milk and a six-pack,
a torn map, and a hammer
on the seat between us
had to have been under 30, but
claimed she was no spring chicken
in dog years
had her radio tuned to country
and tried to sing along, but didn’t
really know the words
had a way of asking questions, then
not waiting for the answers, in a breezy
inoffensive way
had two kids back at her mother’s,
one that cried all the time, one
that never did
had just got out of someplace,
I don’t know what or where,
but it changed her life
had seen the light, turned
a corner, put the past behind her,
and a 4-day drive ahead
had me thinking, when I got clean
I’d buy a pickup, drive hard and fast
to someplace I’ve never been.
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Antonia Clark Artist Statement:
Antonia Clark, a medical writer and editor, has also taught poetry and fiction
writing and is co-administrator of an online poetry forum, The Waters. She is the
author of a poetry chapbook, Smoke and Mirrors (Finishing Line Press, 2013) and
a full-length poetry collection, Chameleon Moon (David Robert Books, 2014). Her
poems and short stories have appeared in numerous print and online journals,
including Anderbo, The Cortland Review, Eclectica, The Missouri Review, The
Pedestal Magazine, Rattle, and Softblow. Toni lives in Vermont, loves French
picnics, and plays French café music on a sparkly purple accordion. “I write for
the joy of it, even when it’s hard. But more and more, it seems to me that all
meaning resides in relationships — how this is like that. I write to connect one
notion to another, one day to the next, tangible to intangible, the living to the
dead.”
