A poem for Thursday

HOW TO GET LOST WHILE DRIVING

Drive at night.
Squint up at the street names
and say each one out loud: Daisy, Marigold, Lotus.
Continue in one direction
until the series changes: Elm, Birch, Willow.

Drive without a map.
Prefer to look up and down a street
until the houses speak to you.
The trees will sometimes be aligned
in a way that reminds you
of somewhere you’ve been before.
Go where the street light casts a glow
you recognize from childhood.

Drive away from where it’s busiest.
Follow the quiet and the dark.
A glance at the sky will tell you where
the stars are clearest.

Drive without fear.
Remember that the heart beats fastest
at the unfamiliar
and the most familiar.

Drive without a destination.

Drive knowing full well that the place
you want to go to can’t be reached by driving.