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Susan Tepper is the author of seven published books of fiction and poetry. Her newest book is a novel titled What Drives Men, from the Wilderness House Press. www.susantepper.com

Beyond

in memory of my mother

The little towns bored you

while I was moved to an ecstasy

you called time-machine madness:

Memory of a bygone trip

has Mom at the wheel and

we three kids

driving across the country –

To see Dad

forced to take work in Spokane

so that we could eat and prosper.

I remember.

Wisconsin.

White clapboard houses converted

to store-front luncheonettes,

people treating us well

bringing a high-chair for the baby,

a waitress saying wanilla for vanilla

ice cream and oh

how we giggled behind our hands,

people were so very kind

when we stopped

to have lunch or dinner,

stopped for the night

in the small towns beyond

the cities of America past.

— Susan Tepper

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