Missing climber found dead

Missing climber found dead
Driver killed in head-on collision
Four-hundred pound halibut caught
Witness lied to police,

I drink a glass of boxed white wine
Finish my Costco pasta
Cat grooms herself on the floor
PBS reports on the fate of the mountain gorilla,

The sun may set this evening
But not until 11:30
Fourth of July is tomorrow
1776 seems so long ago,

Today, I drew lines on a map
Between the state capitals
12,000 miles from
Olympia to Sacramento via Maine

I looked, briefly, this morning
At a $70,000 Porsche
Boxer S convertible
Considered following the dots on the map,

Take pictures and write poems
Listen to the sound of the rolling wheels
Could I think of anything that hadn't been thought before
See anything not seen before,

I'd drive the route along back roads
With the top down
Post the whole trip in real-time
On line, would anyone care?

I drain the last drop of wine from my glass
The sun has moved a imperceptible inch in the sky
Newspaper headlines and road-trip miles tease me
Illegal fireworks explode and the cat doesn't even flinch,