Breakdown
I was grumping along I-40, resenting the languor of semis, when my engine died in Palestine. We gasped to a stop in a gravel lot. My kids sat in a thin strip of shade, cast by the walls of an Exxon station. It was only a few hours before my dad arrived, a tow truck driver close behind him. We swam in a pool, ate spaghetti. Tonight, we will still sleep in beds. Somehow, we need to get home. Somehow, I’ll need to pay to fix the van, then when it’s done, drive all day back to the road, back to the town whose names remind me how lucky I am that these are my problems.
I was able to fit most of what was in our van into my Dad’s car when he picked us up—but alas, the garbage bag containing this enormous celosia didn’t make the cut. I gifted it to the tow truck driver, who thought his wife would be excited to plant it.
The Prompt
Today’s poem was prompted by . . . you guessed it, my car breaking down 400-something miles from home in the very small town of Palestine, Arkansas—a town whose name I’ve noticed and wondered about every time I’ve passed it on my way to or from visiting family in Arkansas. (In this case, my kids, Jeff the dog, and I were attempting to drive home.)
Please don’t suffer a car breakdown in order to inspire your next poem—at least not if you can help it. Instead, I invite you to scan your memory in search of towns with notable names. Here are a few other towns whose names I’ve been charmed, intrigued, or amused by over the years:
American Fork, UT
Helper, UT
Nonesuch, KY
Versailles, KY (pronounced Ver-sails)
Athens, KY (pronounced Ay-thens)
A google search reveals that there are plenty of towns with more unusual names than the ones on this little list. But any name that grabs you and sticks in your mind or heart can act as a prompt. Maybe you’ve encountered a town whose name resembles your own? A town named for a far away place with which it has nothing in common? A town whose name rolls off your tongue in such a lovely way that you find yourself repeating it like a mantra? A town whose name makes you feel happy? A town whose name makes you feel sad?
Begin with the name, add in any memories or associations that it conjures, throw in a little bit of internet research if you’re so inclined, and see where you land. What poem is waiting to be pulled from all of this? I look forward to reading whatever you share . . . and I apologize that I’m not as caught up on reading your comments as I usually am. The whole kids out of school + being out of town + car breaking down thing hasn’t been especially helpful to my productivity. Good thing productivity doesn’t rank all that high on my priority list—whew! It will be so lovely to arrive home to all of your poems and comments.
New Milford, Pennsylvania
.
(Not the one in Connecticut, or the handful
of others around the U.S.)
Population as of 2020: 812
Forty years ago, it was over 1,000, but that
was before I was born, and now New Milford
has become another one of those places that
people leave, and I am one of those people
who left. Similar to the church I grew up in
and to the school I attended, it was a place
I never quite fit, despite feeling as though
I should have. But I am no longer trying to
force myself to fit into confining spaces, so
when I visit, I can feel how out of place I am
and instead of crumpling my edges, I skim
over the surface, riding on the tension
of where I come from and who I am.
Other than the stamp folks occasionally
dropping in
on a full moon
to get a neat postmark to add
to their collection,
Nothing much happens in our
tiny boondocky hamlet.
And they like it like that.
Until mr manse got drunk and shot his wife dead.
I think it's still have a copy of the local rag headline
"Moon Man Arrested For Murder".
Tragedy strikes Moon, Virginia.