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Recorded Reading (4:16): https://www.dropbox.com/s/l5co2v0mksdateg/Coming%20Into%20Ashland.mp3?dl=0

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Coming Into Ashland

Life had gotten very strange
In my mid thirties, one odd year ~
My situation rearrange
Itself be needed, this was clear

I consulted then a map
To see what might appear
Appropriate — friendly, mayhap,
And also reasonably near

My inner eye of one small town
A border near became aware
“Ashland,” brought a thoughtful frown
“They have a Shakespearean Fair…”

Approaching its environ,
A perfect double rainbow curve
Ended its grass to lie upon ~
It bolstered up my nerve

However, coming to
A new place as it’s getting dark
Isn’t exactly helpful to
Finding a good place to park

And so I went back down the road
To in a truck stop find
A nook where could not fit a load
A sleeping rig behind

I tucked myself behind my wheel
Windows locked against cold fright
Hoped I might some slumber steal
Prepared to spend the night

Awakening at two, a sign
Between the trucks which I could see
When leaning self would just align
Kept twinkling to me

And an insistent urging
Tickled in my inner ear
Encouraging the splurging
On some fresh made coffee there

Of course, as bumbling humans do
I still saw it fit argue to:
“After I take a sip or two
Options for action will be few

Until the sun illuminate,
So I my new direction know,
Unto my path’s next step, a gate,
That further on that path may go…”

That tickle most insistent was
It would not let my head alone
One even might call it a buzz —
I gave up with an inner groan

That’s how existence ever is
For one who by the suffrage lives
In diligence of service
Which she unto the angels gives

So off I went to coffee buy
And took those sips and, sure enough,
Thought with the energy might try
To organize my stuff

For here there was sufficient light
To see what I had flung within,
Disordered in the mind with fright,
A new life to begin

This parking lot was empty
There was no one near around
Disturbed in sleep would ever be
By any inadvertent sound

Back in I went to ask the clerk
If it would be okay ~
Approval he did not shirk
In fact, was moved to say

Not only could my car unpack
And pack back up again
But also that he had my back
If anyone disturbed me then

This kindness, though he did not see,
By nonchalant demeanor hid,
I found so touching wondrous, me
It very truly near undid

Encouraged and uplifted
I set about my chosen task
When yet again was gifted ~
I heard a feminine voice ask

“I felt compelled to talk to you ~
Will you excuse me please
If interrupt is what I do?
Hello, my name is Breeze”

We gazed into each others’ eyes
We talked until the dawning came
We, to our mutual surprise,
The best of friends became

Each of us a galactic soul
Of much unusual aware
Each knew what made the other whole
When of it she was made aware

And I had food, and she had none
But she had a dry roof to share
A partnership most well begun
We two cemented there

Later, when we shared again
Our mutual delight,
And in imagination spent
Together once again that night,

I realized she’d driven
Nearly thirty mile ~
Much less could she have striven
Aught purchase to compile

For she had passed by two or three
Small stores which had been open yet ~
It was intuitionally
She had been guided me to get

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Homeless until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ this poet presently lives under perpetual threat of towing with all possessions should her 23-year-old van stop running for any reason.

She is badly in need of a modest reserve with which to field any emergency which might occur.

Donors may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S. It does take several days for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

Thank you for supporting quality in the fine arts.

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