Fly to Memphis, Drive to Mobile

I flew to Memphis with four
Others in a twin-engine Cessna.
The pilot owned B&H Chevrolet.

After buying five vehicles
He needed to get them to Mobile.
We picked up the cars -big,

Throaty Impalas -at the Memphis
Airport, ate bony fried
Catfish, and headed south.

Mississippi was a blur.
I trailed the others until
I lost them in a thunderstorm

East of Hattiesburg. I
Never caught up with them,
Never found out if they made

Their deliveries. Maybe they're
Still driving around Mississippi,
Near Toomsuba, say, or Pontotoc.

For abandoning me in the rain
On Highway 98 may that
Be their fate. Six months later

Mr. B&H Chevrolet died of heart
Failure while he waited to take off
For Memphis and parts unknown.

*Peter Huggins teaches in the English Department at Auburn University. His books of poems are NECESSARY ACTS, River City Publishing, 2004, BLUE ANGELS, River City Publishing, 2001, and HARD FACTS, Livingston Press, 1998. He is also the author of a forthcoming novel for middle grade readers, IN THE COMPANY OF OWLS; a picture book, TROSCLAIR AND THE ALLIGATOR, is due out in Summer or Fall 2005 from Star Bright Books/New York.