Gabriel Gudding

[anabasis]

May 11, 2003  1:57 pm CST curb
at Kreizer. Set odo. Miles on car:
53,713. Overcast. High wind advisory
upon Illinois. I am traveling to Providence
to read at Rhode Island School of 
Design. The great 
blue dome of Illinois
is today tossing & fretting & 
Gray God bless Abraham
Lincoln. West on Grove. Twigs
& leaf bundles & 4 foot branches
drag on the crowned road. 
A neighbor’s America FLAG raging
& hopefully ripping. The dark
violet mulberries are limber
Oakland & Clinton 2:02 pm the oaks
jostling. Strong West Wind as I rise 
onto Highway 74 east at 2:10 pm
fulgent tail wind, the wind is like 
clear wild goat hair: cheese sandwich &
pickle. O little black cows to the
right near Le Roy Illinois are 
you getting fat under the gray
and galloping sky

Cow stench. One would think
cow stench too heavy even for
wind this stiff. Why is not their butt
stench dissipated by the stirred air?
I should imagine some other 
smells get snagged in the ditches.
Cow smell is that of its derriere -- 
dairy air indeed.
Origin of the Kaskasia River  44.6 m
Ditch grass hairy and grass and 
waving, flax blue & flex-ible & brilliant &
a ditch under A bridge near
Champaign is shiftingly green. Traffic brilliant &
Dutch. 
Those gray green Russian olive bushes 
look under water in the wind. 

Salt Fork. Vermilion County Illinois: 66 m
from Normal!
Middle Fork Vermilion River 77 m
and 3 Canada Geese in dell water near
Kenekuk Co. Park
In my imagination as I drive I 
spit my way into an Hemingway
story, “aw shucks, aw shucks I 
am a man, a laconic mascu-line.” 
Salt Fork Vermilion River.
Indiana State Line 88 m from Normal
Wabash River 95 m on a pole a 10 foot by
15 foot American flag rippling
stiffly, then stops, rises up like a 
horse on its back legs and comes
down in another direction and
gallops its ripples to the southeast
Aubergine colored Ford
pickup truck passes me, Indiana 
plates, its windows tinted, in 
white big letters on back window

A 2’ x 2’ window decal
that says “ ‘NUKE’ FRANCE”
and I become depressed. Are 
people – yes – that 
ragingly slackjawed stupid? 120 m: 
wind more from the south now.
Vast brown and sometimes gray Silver
puddles from rains on the fields
158 m East Creek Reservoir DAM
flumes are open, to release the
pent up rain water.
160 M ¼ tank gone.
70 e 167 m  4:35 pm
I now begin the traverse of
Indianapolis  upon the elevated 
highways of it, I-465 to I-70. At 4:37 pm 
while upon the stilts of Hwy 70 I see
the city ctr oz-like under blue dome ––
gray bumps of girder buildings. 
Those Oz-like gritty crumbs: the buildings
of Indy are tall crumbs
I pass beyond the city of
Indiana, the city of depressing Indiana,

Indiana land of modern day KKK. Indiana, 
land of the Flatrock 
river which is 220m from Normal, lllinois, Indiana of Tan 
plowed fields. Indiana of slight green fuzz in some, and 
brown water in others.
Whitewater River of Indiana, 230miles, is brown
tumid mud banks, cut w/ flood
cuts fat w/ mud, three cows next to a 
sign that reads Dayton 62 m.  Oh, Ohio! I’m 
coming!  at 242 M from Normal I begin to see
the poisonous signs of eastern Indiana,  the 
TOM RAPER RV
signs. At 248 M “SAVE TODAY TOM
RAPER’S WAY.”  O, Hio State Line (250 m
from Normal) I so love seeing your great cervical
arch cloaking our woods and hexing the personnel of Indiana
5:48 pm. Wind direct behind me since 
leaving Normal. 
I cross the Great Miami River, Swollen,
	booby-like  284 m. The rains have swollen
all the rivers: the day is the color of a can.

The Mad River at 292 M is not shabby
The birch trees and cottonwoods
near it
Are red in their green, a smock green,
Kelly green, a bottle green. 
Wind now from WNW 38m w
of Columbus.
6:49 pm CST I switch on 
lights. Just finished listening to
The Reader by Bernard Schlink, trans-
lated by Carol Brown Janeway
Rain specks 325 m for ½ tank gone
54.62 mpg –– 13 mpg over hwy 
average: 54 miles per gallon is 
unprecendented! due to tailwind!
270 N  342 m  8:10 pm EST
	Getting dark

8:15 pm STOP for food & coffee
	360 m  71 N

Your oddball cherry-cobbler neck,
O Nancy Reagan, does not
disturb nor bother me this slackjaw nation
even though you are still skinny, O
head of Alien on boney shouldered woman

You ruined and ruled this nation
with your bobble headed husband

erection north of Columbus. I always
seem to be visited by an erection
north of Columbus Ohio. WHY?

Rain begins, erection leaves

Cold today: 40s & 50s F
I make I-76 east 450miles fr Normal at 10:10pm

Driving in the nightlight: I be an 
Ambassador who don’t 
wear no polyester. The hickey
on my shoulder done flown down
from Freyja’s mouth (on her sucking
head)
Get camping stuff, get movies, 
	Get ink.
You know, when you get a lot of
flies in A room    & they’re big
& kinda clumsy, like fatted
flippy buttons, they sound 
somewhat electrical.
	Meander Reservoir  510.5 M
STOP TO GAS in Niles, Ohio  512.9 M
I drove 512 miles on one tank of gas
514.8 m  9.995g = 51.51 mpg

Pennsylvania Welcomes You  527 m
O Shenango River, How many
FBI Agents have driven over you today
Fitty witnesses run across the 
road. runnin at duh judge
saying I saw him, I saw the bad 
praysident run dissa way
I have issues w/ ill-bred women
Highest Pt on 80 east of MS 637 m
My rt ear pops.   1:12 AM
I hear
that from the burlap of myth
a swale of words comes out
of a verbal ditch

At 1:20am in the dark mts of 
velvet Pennsylvania I imagine my
self accosted by the floating head
of Nancy Reagan: her great ringed eyes
her raccoon-like anger. AHHHH:
What kind of mad Kabuki are
you into now, Lady. That
disturbing
	thing you’re wearing
	that stuff you’re shouting.
671 m REST STOP PEE. NEED REST.
		1:46 am BACK ON ROAD ANYWAY
3:10am 766m Susquehanna River
81 N 784m 3:28am
½ tank Gone  287m
FOG  hwy 84east near Forks Bridge Rd.

4:35am a luminous purple to the
North – dawn at Dingman Township 
856m 
It is Monday fucking morning I
have driven all night I
am tired. I am bones. More fog again
Welcome to New York  873.8 miles
After & over some bridge. Port Jervis.

Dawny Dawn Dawn.  5:10 AM

FOG – mild, diluted —visibility
150 yards  Must get coffee
feel strapped to wheel 
Heavy traffic since 4:30

5:30 AM Fill on Exxon  47.55 mpg

2 coffees & “gourmet” pound cake
& pack of “Starburst” “fruit chews”
pain in left knee
Hudson River, fog occluding 
the hills

691 e  984 m  6:50AM
91 N 992 m   7 AM

Rest Area  994

Depart Rest Area  11 AM

Mattabassett River  998 M

Exit 22-S  Hwy 95

999.6 – 1000.1 m  11:03 AM
Chester Bowles Hwy
Foliage near Beaver Meadow Rd
near Haddam drier, 
pricklier, sparer, trees skinny
& yellow green, almost autumnal,
lots of rocks
	Casserina & Martin
	Moving & Storage
	860 347 8888

partly sunny

Anguilla Rd near No. Stonington CT
		Pawcatuck
	Mashuntucket Reservation
Welcome to Rhode Island
I believe I just saw A pig
dead rt shoulder 150 M
Exit 20, exit 1

At 1098 mile from Normal  12:32pm
I drive up hills into Providence up
up above the Wanasquatucket River up
into the bricky air,
into the ginkgo, the footpaths of shale, the 
slate roofs of RISD, the dollhouse center
of Providence, the scent of 
the Wanasquatucket like a rose above into leaden
rippled windows and long legs of
the walkers and into the little 
hostel house.

	[katabasis]

7:28am May 14 Eastern Standard Time I sit in my ECHO 
above the Wanasquatucket and Set odometer 
at Prospect & Angell. Make 95-S  7:33am
Bright sun east to left
A Wednesday morning—gave reading last night
in Carr House to crowd of RISD teachers and students.
89.7FM NPR President Putin 
Powell in Russia. Wind in an American 
flag shows a wind fr. west

Blue sky, whit high & pink clouds
32.5m I stop in W. Greenwich
for Dunkin Donuts X-Large
coffee w/ cream  2 old fashions
CT welcomes me with its signs
Park clouds. Up down. Hike!
hike! Bye Bye Ford. Rode & Red
SUV.  St. Mary’s Hospital
“Vanity that we parade around,
then bury.” — Chris Whitcomb
Such are our bodies. 
Housatonic River  139.4m
84 W still Connecticut

Amen Amen, parked clouds.
I do not think clouds ever
park. 10:04am EST  158m
NY Border  then east branch
of Croton River. A river is 
not illegal I hope the head of Nancy
Reagan does not haunt me this drive:
	Fishkill Creek  183.5m
Hudson River   Goddamnit
I repeat again, these clouds
seem parked to me.
	Wallkill River  202.3m
10:44am EST Wind WNW

The dipshit stood in the grotto
done w/ bitching. Something
felt good there to him. Calm grotto
Peaceful grotto. He had not been
himself a bully. But he felt
his own life was an old bully to 
him.  His own life was an old bully.
PA border 228m Matamoras PA
STOP Milford, PA  11:15am
236.3m fr Prov  437.2m in tank
10.074g =  43.40 mpg
Depart 11:24am – w/out peeing –
got eyeful of old man fr. New Jersey
on toilet in gas station, grossed me out,
why old man leave door unlocked? 
His thighs pale muscled, his face-skin
liver spotted and loosened from his head bones,
the cheap baseball cap framing his shocked look.
MY GOD: I SAW HIS THIGHS!

It must be a fine thing 
to be a radio: giving and giving
racking up great blessings
for that constancy and generosity.
What a fine job, a radio in a car,
little box of good
in a great mobile box of curiosity.
Sunny wind but gray dull clouds
Western Pennsylvania in the afternoon
has a light conducive to inducing headaches,
I have noticed this
Rest area 257m  11:43am
on road 11:46am
Rain dottles  12:01pm  273.8m
Near 81-S interchange  lots
of construction, sun comes out
briefly, goes away
big deer dead under bridge
“Keep right on going, and 
nothing will happen.” – Richard Feynman

large dog or small deer
80W  318m 12:43pm
Big deer  327m
	After seeing this deer I
wonder if it wd be possible to kill
A deer using only a thumbtack.
How many times wd I have to 
stab the deer w/ the thumbtack in 
order to kill it.
		Susquehanna River 336m
I believe that big deer was 
fr Princeton, probably an undergraduate
who decided to undergo an experiment
in which he ran out across
Pennsylvania as a deer. Got himself hit.

O look, some
birds, starlings maybe, poking
the beaks into the tilled dark garden
on rt in a home above the ditch
Susquehanna River  366.3m
1:25 pm. Seem like very little 
wind.
	¼ tank gone 145m = 48.5mpg
Sun out but very cloudy
1:41pm EST
leaves here small, immature  386.7m
Here are the big flat cliffs of tall
height and fat and wide cliffs like
the kind you would see at the sea!  395.5m

Having got 54mpg on the march 
up country a few days ago, it occurs to 
me that wind’s more a factor than 
previous estimated. DUH. 2:31pm Sunny partly clouds
witness crow walking to the
rt of a torn up much decayed 
deer carcass on rt shoulder 441.1m
with the intention of Eating its face parts?
2:42pm very tired. Must get coffee
2:48pm am at McDonald’s Exit 120 Hwy 84

In my trunk are a dozen
or so National Geographics 
dated 1940s. They were in the hostel
at RISD on Prospect Street just 
being mounting by dust: much on war, much
anti-Japanese racism, many fountain pen
ads, Norwegian soldiers shown. 3:19 I stop
to pee, reststop on rd again 3:23pm. Bright 
sun now. Ragged-topped cumulonimbi
Wind at 500m looks 
to be from North 3-5mph
Sun very bright now
No A/C but vent ran on 
high. 3 or 4 vents of my Toyota Echo open all 
directed at my face. Sometimes
the coming heat of spring is 
depressing to me.

½ tank gone  273m
	45.88 mpg
Clarion River  515.3m
4:46pm I finish my coffee.
282m in tank I turn on 
A/C this is a Rotring Core fountain pen
Crane dismantling a bridge
over hwy 80 west 525m
	Alleghany River 531.5m
	3:59pm EST
Shenango River 573m  4:35pm
575.6m Ohio border  4:37pm
Meander Reservoir  591.7m 4:52pm
5:05pm 607m Rest Stop pee
5:11pm on HWY

8.925	43.47 mpg – ¾ tank
   gone
71  S    652  m   5:49pm
Cappy    cappy.
   675.4m  Exit   186   71 S

STOP   TO   GAS
	    439 m in  tank
6:12 pm
	439.2m  9.553   45.98 mpg
	     6:17  on rd.
6:51  pm   Frothy charcoal
clouds.   Getting raincloud
darker 717m
lights on   7:09  PM

RAIN SPLATS  7-8 mm diameter
  About  10-15/second at first.
  Then about 20/second & 12-15mm
 	I don’t use my wipes.
270 W  742m  glorious
  White pale yellow slantlights
similar to diluted milk
759m  70W  7:32 pm
Why do some people talk 
about their teeth?
This road is not a bunch of
crappy shit. 

Mad River  808.5m
Shirt sleeve weather
What if instead of one shorter distance
between things, there were two 
shortest distances between things? 
We wd have our choice of economies –
what a thought
Great Miami River
Powerful rain  8:30pm EST
Still light out and ¼ tank gone
143m  traveled — rain —
grey-blue road, ungrabbable clouds

8:50pm EST Darker yet —
& hazing low after A certain
time in the day it gets
darker real fast
850m IN border  8:52pm
small drops of rain
Big Blue River  887.5 m
dark dark dark
 	9:35 EST
Far faint flashes of lightning
 	high in windshield above car
mirror as I approach Indianapolis 912m frequent
(1 per second)
but very high. Dark dark

10:10 EST At edge of Indianapolis
Approaching A Massive horseshoe
shaped lightning storm

am going into middle of horseshoe
with great blue-yellow and green 
lightning veins to my right and left:
treetrunks of light 
slapped out of heaven then gone

941m  74W 
9:37  CST

horizon-breaking lightning stroke

270   ½ tank   45.38 mpg
9:50 CST  out of T-storm
and west of Indy  956.9

10:10  Getting somewhat tired.
450m  ¾ tank gone
		44.82mpg
I notice a Bright nearly full tin-colored moon
top part of driver’s side window
which I watch crost the cornstream of Illinois so tired
I in danger. Last night had chat with 
Mike Magee, runner of Combo Press
11:53pm Exit HWY 74 at exit 135
traveled 1,097 miles, tired tired in the dark

Poems © Gabriel Gudding 2004-2005. All rights reserved.