Road tripping through the rural Midwest multiple stops at towns, map dots places so obscure people living there don’t know where they happen to be Blissful in their remoteness and my envy. – Mark L. Lucker © 2021 http://lrd.to/sxh9jntSbd

Battered walls and empty promises We told them we’d done all we could The trials we gave the world Were nothing compared to Our lies said smiling Of protection Keep us safe Our lives safe

your departure left an imprint fragile slip of a dried flower I keep revisiting behind the glass of my memories frozen in time like your smile blue like the submerged ice on a glacier goodbyes are always deeper than they seem layers of emotion warped…