Madawaska

In yon olden days

before the crush for absolute efficiency,

my dad's job

had him on the road

virtually indefinitely,

the reason we moved to Maine,

so he could make trips

to places like Madawaska

and it would seem

slightly more reasonable,

but while he was gone

it never really occurred to me

at the time

that he had a whole life

until he talked about it years later,

and recently

I took some notes,

recording familiar anecdotes,

such as the priest who mistook him for a priest

because of the suitcase he took to mass one day.

Someday I make the trip

to Madawaska.