November 17, 2023 - Elizabeth Lerman’s “When the white peaks wake up”

The car keeps moving but the stars stay still. The drive is endless and the moon follows you the whole way, while you roll the windows up, then down, and stare at the dark road, thinking about the way you would like to meet someone and learn everything about them, how you would like to consider them for a very long time. 

Two elks stand by the road’s edge. You want to tell them something. You want them to turn around and walk back towards the woods. 

When you drive it feels like you are dreaming. Maybe it’s the way time moves, maybe it’s the mountains and how the sky spreads out around them. The bridges too, you think, how you bounce over weathered water and wind up somewhere else. 

When the white peaks wake up you start pretending there is someone in the passenger’s seat. 

You are home by morning.