Poetic salute from unlikely quarters

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Updated Dec 14, 2009

Ann Campanella (pictured) is a journalist-turned-poet whose collection Young amp; Ripe, published by the folks at Charlotte-based Main Street Rag this year, chronicles via short verse the spirit of youth. Her “Six Days on the Road” poem was featured Oct 9 this year in the daily Writer’s Almanac from National Public Radio, read by Garrison Keillor. It chronicles a trip with an “Aussie trucker” on the road, and vividly evokes the feeling of the cab and winding down the open road.

The first stanza runs,

When I was young and searching for my life,
I climbed into the cab of a semi.
The Aussie trucker pointed with his thumb
to the compartment behind him.
Get some sleep. I don’t remember
if he was old or young.
His face was so plain
it left no impression.

But, as it turns out, that trucker did. Click here for the rest of the poem.