on the off-road?

two weeks ago we were stuck in the plains 

somewhere in the midwest with no service. you pulled out 

some 1999 AAA member's map and said 

"crack it open," and i still loved you, even then. words flowed

out of my mouth like gasoline at the pump, above all 

i wondered to you out loud what it would have been like 

for us to star in a 90's coming of age film.

everything hazy, color-graded pale yellow,

back before google maps even existed.

before we were scared to trailblaze,

when we took wrong turns, solved 

our own problems, traced our own new paths 

with fingertips throbbing with life, blue-green and red.

hanningy

PA

17 years old

More by hanningy

  • Empty Nests

    Tell me we'll be ten forever 

    and I'll ride my scooter to your house 

    every day, and never learn 

    not to trip over the crack on your driveway. 

  • migration

    i, like many poets, have wondered a million times what it would be like to be a bird: soaring high above the trees, unburdened by life's banal worries. something primal and free. 

  • cutting fruit

    the sound of laughter through sun-spotted trees,

    i dreamed last night we were fae frolicking 

    in rings of toadstools, in and out of trees.

    fireworks went off in my head as