White Crosses & Plastic Carnations

By the side of highways

     with precisely engineered curves

stand white crosses

     like cemeteries

     are cemeteries

no bodies are buried here

however death is surely present

          in the night

          out of the dark

          lights flashing

          blue, red, and white

          sizzling flares

          slow down

          a wave on through

          carefully passing other’s passing

          shining wrecks, tangled metal

          the air is thick with

          alcohol fumed curses

          a child’s cry

          a last breath expelled

                   unhh!

The crosses are always white

sometimes flowered

real flowers at first

then plastic (they last longer)

on a lonely desert highway

the crosses are enshrined

     grottoes of stone (they last longer)

but here on this spot

a white cross with

     red plastic carnations

     forming letters

     a “D”, an “A” and a “D”