This morning I was listening to my local Public Radio station, and I heard Garrison Keilor reciting this poem by Stephen Dunn that I really liked. So at lunch I walked over the library and looked, but they did not have any of his collections. Not satisfied, I called the local Barnes and Noble - they had one book. After work I went down there, some eight miles out of my way. At first I couldn't find any Stephen Dunn poems, but I did notice a Garrison Keilor collection of favorite poems. There were three poems by Dunn in the collection, but none of them was the right one. So I waited for a book seller to check on the book they were supposed to have in stock. With his help and a picture from the internet, I found the book. I quickly skimmed 200 pages worth of poems in about five minutes, but the one I was after was not there.

Here I am, typing on my computer, risking being late for a date because of this poem I have not read.

So anyway, the poem was about driving on the highway and getting behind a woman with a bumper sticker that read 'Life's a bitch, then you die.' I was on the highway at the time and it resonated with me, especially since it is summer and sunny and warm, and this means I will be taking a few long drives here and there for the next couple of months.

I liked one point where the author writes about passing this woman and describing her face as "a face that had gone many places, and only come back from some". It reminded me of the times I have passed or been passed and have looked for a moment at the person sitting ten feet away from me in the next car. There is that brief instant of eye contact where I am a part of that person's life and they are a part of mine. And then we move on.