It happened on the highway
when my vision flattened
maybe because I just dropped off
my parents at the airport
not knowing when
I’ll see them again next
but knowing that
there’s nothing I can do
to not carry them with me
I began to notice
there were more lanes than one
and that the cones were just
as important as the dotted lines
that hundreds of families,
if not thousands, surrounded me
and how more often than not
I probably knew someone
passing me by in an aluminum box
and how little we take life for granted
when we don’t think twice
about checking our phones
driving 60 miles per hour.
Maybe there was a time
when I cared about being on top
or I was concerned about
being on the bottom.
These days, this moment,
I’m more interested in
what’s to the left and right of me
in front and behind me
I want to be surprised
at just how close I am to you
and what kind of change
I can be a part of
when my awareness
is flat.